Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.

Meet the residents of Number 12. rue des Amants À Paris the City of Light.

The socialite, the nice guy.

The alcoholic.

The girl on the verge.

The concierge.

Everyone's a neighbor and everyone's a suspect.

And everyone knows something they're not telling.

See you in the Paris apartment.

A novel by Lucy Foley.

And joining me today is Jackie Hughes.

Greetings I am so glad you're back here.

And this is such a pleasure, Gail.

It certainly is fun.

And we're going to make some good food.

We are going to have some good tasting.

That we are.

And I think we want to talk, first of all, a little about these characters.

There's a whole cast of them, and they're all French except two.

Mm hmm.

And they're British.

Yes.

Brother and half sister and half brother or something of that nature.

And so let's talk about those characters.

Jesse.

The half sister of Ben.

What is she like?

She's very open.

Yes, A very honest person.

And she just has she's having a hard time with people who aren't quite as open.

Yes.

And because she just wears her heart, honestly.

Yes.

Type of person, she.

I want to say American.

But she's British.

Yes.

And very she wants to find out what's going on here.

Very curious.

Her step brother is not here.

He's supposed to meet her.

And who is her step brother?

Benjamin is an interesting person.

And I think what makes this story so interesting is Benjamin is a key character.

But you never really meet Benjamin.

He's always in the eyes of someone else.

Yes.

And so there is everyone is aloof, but he is, too.

There's always this sort of veil of you wonder what's really happening.

Really happening?

Well, it not it.

The fact is they are European and they're French and French do not, you know, knock on the door and say, Hi, I'm Mimi.

How are you?

Let's have a drink.

That's right.

They're just much more reserved, private.

And it really comes out in this book.

Everybody is suspicious.

Why are they doing this?

Why are they doing that?

But the the the real problem here is when she gets to his apartment, he's not there.

That's right.

She can't find Ben.

And I think it's interesting to note that Ben and she were he was adopt by one family.

She was adopted by another.

And he he could he learned to be a posh English.

When he went into a very wealthy family.

He went to the best schools.

He had the best food, he had the best accent.

You know, in Europe, in England, you can study how to have the best accent, how to be posh, don't you?

Plus, he was.

Good looking and very good looking.

And he always said something like, I'm going to get them to like me.

And he knew how to do it.

He had that certain sense of, I'm really the guy here.

And then you have the socialite.

What is her name?

Sonia.

Sylvia.

Sophie.

Certainly so.

So Parisian.

Yes, she is.

She has learned to be Parisian.

She has.

Yes.

And she was a fast learner.

Yes, she was.

Oh, my goodness.

And then you have her husband, Jacques, who is a nasty person.

Yes.

To his stepson.

Yes.

Son, Jacques is truly the villain here.

Yes.

There's nothing likable but Jacques.

Yes.

And also there's money.

Yes.

And he.

He makes his money through the wine business.

Wine business?

He.

They have two sons or.

Nicholas.

And what was the other?

Antoine?

Antoine.

Antoine is the alcoholic.

Yes.

Nicolas is a friend of Ben and said, Go.

Come on.

You can come and live in one of these apartments.

There are five in this building and they're very nice apartments.

And everybody, you know, kind of decorates with like anybody in their own way.

Then there are two girls.

Mimi We don't know about Mimi until the book kind of moves on its true meaning.

Mimi is a volatile character.

Yes.

Yes, she is.

She's had a lot of pulling and tugging in her life.

We don't know who is who she's the daughter of until the middle toward the end of.

It's really the end.

Just everything happens fast.

It's the end.

And sometimes they don't like books, like that.

And then she has a roommate, Camille.

Camille.

And she's a little flirt.

Oh, my gosh.

The clothes she doesn't wear.

And she.

She is definitely a part of.

She's a little Brigitte Bardot.

Yes, she is.

You have a good time.

Yes.

And that's all she wants.

And she thinks that Mimi short for Merivale.

Her mother called her a little miracle.

A marvelous miracle.

She thinks that Mimi is just sort of, you know, stuffy and all of that.

So you have all these characters.

You have Ben who has disappeared.

And before we get started, let's talk about what we're.

We're making.

What are you doing for the French?

Well, a very France British.

And it is really a summer wonder because you take so many vegetables from the garden and you use them to make ready to and it isn't easy dish.

It's almost a French vegetable stew.

Yes.

Yes.

And you're going to use all those great ingredients, eggplant, aubergine.

You know, this is such a good dish.

And I made it last two days ago with your first eggplant.

Oh, well, good.

Delicious.

I am going to, first of all, mix this drink.

Doesn't need any mixing, but we have here St. Germaine.

This is my liqueur of the year.

And the day and the week.

It's called St. Germaine St. Germaine And it, of course, that's a name of a French name.

And it's elderberry liqueur.

Now, what am I going to do with this?

Well, first of all, I'm going to pour some champagne in the glasses and I learned this through a family member.

Sometimes we've had these the the French drink with champagne and and cassis and but this time we're doing elderberry wine.

And of course, this will help us cook better.

It will help us speak better.

Here, I'll sit there.

Is that working?

Okay?

It is.

I just wanted to get you it.

So we're going to top it off with some more.

And have a little toast.

Think about what we should toast.

Oh, my gosh.

There's so many things in this book.

I mean, this is for you.

Oh, thank you.

Mercy.

Julia.

To you.

To us.

To you too tell me what you think.

Oh, delightful.

A little sweet.

Yes.

Just a little sense to say to Elderberry.

I recommend it.

I really do.

Yes.

So we are meeting these French people.

This book is written by an Englishwoman, not an American.

So we have somebody else describing the French and.

And it's English.

And there are people in Europe, the French and the English don't always get along.

In fact, I know so very well educated in England was the headmaster.

He'd never been to France.

I don't mean to go to France.

You know, It was like, Well, okay, so we're getting this ready.

I am going to make some crepes and I have to season the pan a little bit.

So you always it's like sometimes a pancake you have the first one is kind of like you throw it away.

But then after that, I shouldn't speak too soon.

After that, it usually goes pretty well and I'm going to have some cream and some, you know, that might be on simmer.

You know, I don't need that right.

That's good.

And we'll add some.

There we go.

Coffee, too.

And we'll add some chocolate and we'll add what else we can.

Whipping cream.

Yes.

So we'll make those.

And part of this we're doing is because the socialite she is well, we find out about her background.

Everything happens at the end of the book and you find out, oh, my gosh, this woman who thought she was the upper class Parisian.

Yeah, she had a very hard life.

And her husband Jack, the nasty one, is not a very nice man.

He is nice at all.

And no, not nice to her.

Nor is he nice to his family.

It's right.

And he will tell you a little later on how Jack a Sylvia.

I'm calling her Sophia.

Sophia.

I remember I had a poodle named Sophie.

Oh, okay.

How they met in their early life.

So we try to set the stage and talk about these characters.

Nick is someone you just can't believe.

He's.

He is the type that will look at you and serves, insinuate you will like me.

Everybody does.

And he doesn't have to work too hard.

And he doesn't.

He's good looking and he's friendly.

And then you have the concierge.

And when I was in school in France, the concierge was the guard of the apartment building.

She had this tiny little room.

She wore her little knitted hat.

She had on knitted socks and a long skirt.

And she would walk around looking to see who's coming in, who was going out.

So Lucy.

She was in charge of being nosy.

Yes.

Well, and she thinks it's her responsibility to make sure things are running correctly.

And so you've got her and she makes comments.

In fact, she tells Jessie, who might as well not get involved here.

She's she's suspicious of everyone.

And yes, with that, you know, Jessie is just such a which is a anomaly to her.

She's just not used to someone who is quite that.

Very friendly and outgoing.

Now, we're going to take a little break and we're going to show you a picture of your condo.

They don't call them condos, but an apartment in Paris.

It might look like the one that we're in today.

We'll be right back.

And our book is The Paris Apartment.

My guest is Jackie Hughes.

She is getting her ratatouille sizzling cracking.

And yes, you're going to add all those ingredients.

I cooked the eggplant and now I'm browning.

This zuccini.

And I will take this out and put it in the bowl.

And then I will add some other ingredients.

And then we put them all together and voila.

You know, and that's the French way.

You cook everything separate and then you put it together.

Gail Martin doesn't do it that way.

It's everything in the pot.

Well, Americans were a little more impatient.

Yes, but the sense is you can't put something in cooks, you know, in 20 seconds with something that needs 10 minutes.

So you have to kind of, you know, decide how to do that.

And I am now making this this nice crepe recipe.

I've got two eggs in here and I have two tablespoons of melted butter.

I have to third a cup of flour.

And then what do I have in milk?

I have a half a cup of milk.

I'm going to kind of whisk this together.

And when I do make I'm going to make a first one that just is sort of like a test.

And I've often said to myself, No way will I ever make crepes.

This could be a real disaster.

And for some people, it turns out very well.

And I wanted to thank Diane and for her lovely crate pan.

Look at this.

Look, there's no high edges.

I mean, it's not totally flat because you don't want it rolling off out of the pan.

And I'm going to season this first because it probably will not take the first crepe you kind of throw away.

So don't feel bad if you're making little pancakes or crepes.

And the first one is doesn't look like one.

I hope the second one does, though.

So and this is a very typical French.

You can see them on the street.

They're making crepes on the street, filling them with vegetables.

You can fill them with fruit.

You can make dessert crepes.

And I'm kind of using this as a dessert crepe with chocolate.

I should say chocolate, Hershey and a little bit of a garden marmalade.

Not marmalade, really.

It is a jelly.

And then I'll add whipping cream and voila, That's our dessert.

And I found out that Whole Foods sells these crepes pre-made.

And that is really something.

Takes a lot of worry out of making crepe.

So you're like TV and then cooking something.

You know, Jackie, I notice the author puts a lot of attention on the the what shall I say, the staircases, the halls, the area in apartments that are known as shamble to the bone.

A woman is a maid.

So they had these hidden staircases and you'd go up and you would be you would see where the maids had their quarter.

Well, this fits in very well in this story because it's used as a sort of a secret passageway.

And we.

Have to spy on each.

Other.

They spy.

They can look through a little keyholes.

Especially the concierge.

Yes.

She comes around, make sure everybody's taking care of their laundry, getting their laundry out of the dryer.

And there's a car with wonderful wine in it.

And that's, of course, Jack's car, which I'm surprised he lets everybody wander around.

I know.

Well, I think Jeff Jack is it's interesting because Jack is talked about, but he's he rarely makes an appearance.

Right.

So you you really form your own opinion of Jack and his physical stature and attitude.

You know, he's arrogant and it just reminds.

Me of that French man that was going to run for president of France.

And he's caught with a maid.

No, New York City.

He's that type.

Yes, he is.

Because he was always getting involved with the little groups of women.

And wherever he went, Belgium or Netherlands.

So I have to make sure this is not so hot that this.

Bring that kind of.

Sophie.

Oh, no.

He was he was not kind to his children.

He really was not a nice person.

And you don't like him in the story at all?

No, That set him up to be the villain early on.

Well, and there weren't too many likable people by now.

Let's see who.

Let's see what I do see.

Do you have the.

I was enough, I hope.

No, it doesn't matter because.

You hit one of.

You.

I think this needs a little more liquid.

And I think so.

But we're going to let this kind of move around.

It should be more liquidy.

Yes.

Now, what would Jack, what would Julia do?

She she did some liquid lumberjack.

She she would add some more liquid to this.

And since I don't have any more milk, I'm going to add a little water.

That's it.

Okay.

How is your how are your vegetables doing?

They are.

They're doing fine.

I'm ready to put it in my green privacy.

I'm going to add the onions.

Yes.

So the onions.

And then I'll be grating some garlic and adding.

Then the the tomatoes will go in his fingers.

Here.

The tomatoes will go and last because they're.

They cook quickly.

Don't they dare to look quickly.

But they're going to add the moisture to the dish that will move.

Well we meet these people, they have some parties and they're this is where I think a lot of the criticism of the book comes in that kind of sags in the middle.

What are these people doing?

And Jesse still waiting for Ben.

And we're hearing a little bit about Ben from everybody that lives there.

And there is that there could have they could have used a little editing in the middle.

Of the story.

They could.

Yes, I think so.

I think it's very interesting because Ben is one of these people that although you've never meet him physically, you know, and you know.

Well, we.

Hear about him through everyone else.

Yeah.

And you really have to set up your own mental picture, picture of your house.

But he's like a pancake.

But everybody loves Benjamin, and yet they hate Benjamin.

They don't like his self-assuredness and his good looks.

And the fact that he knows they're going to like them him and he pushes it, doesn't he?

He does.

He's charming, but I really think he likes people, but he wants people to like him.

Also.

Very much so.

But he's he likes people and he's charming, but he doesn't develop a relationship.

And not even with his.

Sister.

You know, she.

She is more she works in a bar in England.

She worked in a bar and she was with some heavy, tough characters.

She's rough around the edges, for sure.

She that's the way to put it.

She's rough around the edges.

He's posh.

She's learned the perfect pronunciation of words.

I find that amazing.

People do take elocution lessons to sound like they're from London, very posh sound, and it probably happens in every country.

There are people out east that want to sound like they're mid-Atlantic.

Oh, yes.

And I'm looking at this.

This is a thinner one, which I'm happy about.

And we're going to try to get it to fold in half.

So this is what moves this along, moves this along.

It does take a while to get started.

It does.

And we have the story of of Sophie and her husband and then Mimi and Mimi, Mimi and Jessie meets the man from the Guardian.

Yes.

And he goes with her.

And what moves us on?

It comes alive.

They go to a gentlemen's club.

Oh, yes.

And the women are dancing on the stage.

Some of them are nude.

Some are dressed in their little meeting places in the back where the men can come and bring their mistresses.

Yes, because there was this there was the little card that they found in Benjamin's wallet.

Yes.

That Jessie brought to the editor.

And so.

Well, so.

You see recognized.

This is the jolt that gets this going again after we've been studying these people.

And so and Jessie kind of recognizes one of the women.

It looks very embarrassed.

Yes.

And so we move on to this story and we found out at the end who was another entertainer at that club.

That's right.

It was Sophie.

That's how Jack met her.

And it was his club.

And he is not that nice to her.

She is beautiful.

She knows how to act like a true Parisian.

And we've got a little of everything in this story.

And that's why I was bringing up this lévi-strauss.

That was a little bit like this man.

There was a a special documentary on him on Netflix, and I watched it.

I think this is going to have to be happy by itself here.

I might have time to do another one.

So at the end of the book, we find out that by looking around these passageways that Ben has been held captive in one of the Trombley given maid's room, and he has he's been trying to work on a project.

Do you know what that along.

With working on Sophie?

Yes, yes, even Sophie.

But at the same time, we have to let you know that Sophie came from that background and he is writing an exposé on this kind of activity in Paris, and they don't want him to succeed.

So that's why he has disappeared.

And we have a few things to finish up here.

We're going to invite you up the stairway up.

To.

Let's go to Jack's house and have.

Everybody and everybody who's been involved with Benjamin in some point or other.

Benjamin has woven his way into everyone's lives, either prior to the to this the story evolving or.

Right.

During.

Jack, we have to take a break, get ourselves together, get our food done.

Okay.

And you're coming.

You're going to join us on 12 rue des Amants We'll see you soon.

Today we've been talking about The Paris Apartment and my guest has been Jackie Hughes.

And I just wanted to say, when this woman finds out that her husband is dead and I think she had something to do with it, she goes out and she eats a big steak meal with a big dessert.

She doesn't have to please him anymore.

That's right.

Yes.

And what was the what intrigued you about the book?

I think I will truly it had a surprise ending.

I felt throughout the book that, you know, it's suppose that, oh, I think I know the outcome of this and truly, I didn't.

You didn't.

So the last chapter and the fact that the characters, their involvement with one another, I'm not going to give it away exactly their involvement.

But they are very tight.

Yes, they're very tight.

Very tight.

And so I recommend the book particularly if you like, Paris and you you understand the differences in people's personalities.

You have a fantastic ratatouille here and you use special technique.

And this is really a terrific Parisian dish, especially summer vegetables.

Yes, but I cooked it in the in the French manner, cooking the vegetables, browning them separately.

And then when you add the tomatoes, then it pulls all the flavors together.

And that's when you finally end your spring of thyme.

And Bay leaf, we let the tomatoes simmer and blend the flavors.

Can't wait to taste it with some French bread.

And then the crepes Oh my goodness, it's been quite a day.

We are so pleased that you joined us, Jackie.

I'm glad you came.

Well, I'm so glad I came also, good food and friends and bubbly was a.

That's.

Another with a yes.

Yes and good but surprise.

Makes for a good life.

We'll see you next time.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice, A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.