In 1937, five-year-old Colette Rossant arrives in Cairo from Paris with her Egyptian Jewish father and beautiful French mother. When her father dies, Colette's flighty mother abandons the little girl to her wealthy grandparents and a troupe of uncles, aunts and cousins. Colette soon settles into the luxuriant, food-centred lifestyle of her new family - spending afternoons in the spice-filled kitchen with Ahmet the cook; accompanying her grandmother to expeditions in the bazaar; and feasting on the delicious Egyptian food. But the idyllic Egyptian days are soon over and Colette's mother returns to Paris with Colette when she is fifteen. Colette never sees her beloved grandparents again and only sets foot in Egypt thirty years later.

In this charming, funny, and moving memoir she evokes an Egypt lost, to her and to us, for ever. Accompanied by recipes that will tempt you into the kitchen, this is a captivating account of a magical childhood.