by Patricia and Walter Wells.

Harper. 313 pages. $26.95.

BY LOIS D. ATWOOD
Special to the Journal

Patricia and Walter Wells went to Paris for what was intended as a two-year interlude between jobs at The New York Times, but France seduced them. Thirty-three years later, they own a flat and a working studio in Paris and a farm in Provence. She has become an internationally known food critic, and he wound up as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune. This account of their expatriate life is laced with photographs and recipes.

Walter had been hired by the Tribune before they left the States, but Patricia had to invent herself as a food critic in France. His extended working hours gave her the long days and evenings she needed for in-depth research of any restaurant she reviewed, eating there several times, spending mornings in the kitchen to see how its chef worked, visiting bakeries and markets where its food was procured and even trying out some of its recipes at home.

By the time a review was in print, she was an expert on the subject — unlike most of the male critics, who were much more casual in their approach and usually expected a free meal, while she reserved under a fake name and paid her own checks.

They were forced to learn how different the U.S. and France are, and the rules by which the French live. Like many Americans, they became friends with the workmen and artisans who helped them, and Patricia established herself with bakers, sellers in the markets, farmers, truffle hunters, winemakers and fine chefs.

But it was in Provence when they bought the farm, Chanteduc, that they really settled into the life they would lead thereafter. The troubles with the owner — will she sell or won’t she? — lasted roughly two years, and then the necessary renovations could begin.

This really is a scrapbook, with first Patricia and then Walter writing a section, skipping from one topic to another, taking readers back to their beginnings in France and then through their love affair with each other and a new cuisine. Patricia, now a popular cooking teacher, has written many cookbooks, and this charmingly written, unpretentious, “scrapbook” offers 30 inventive, excellent recipes. It’s a keeper. WE’VE ALWAYS HAD PARIS . . . AND PROVENCE: A Scrapbook of Our Life in France,

platwood@verizon.net