Welcome to PLW’s Words with a Wordsmith Friday! Today we interview Diana R. Chambers, author of the The Secret War of Julia Child, a USA Today bestseller and a Washington Post Best Book of 2024.

Now, let’s meet Diana, who was born with a book in one hand and a passport in the other!

Are there TV shows or films that have influenced your writing?

I was transported by The English Patient, Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, Jewel in the Crown, Tai-Pan. You get the idea. I am ever drawn to historical stories in a foreign setting, both in my viewing, reading—and writing. It is no surprise that my work has generally taken place in distant lands, during what I call crossroads of time. I’m fascinated by how people are brought together in these dramatic circumstances…how the forces of history influence them—and vice versa.

Do you tend to write about places you’ve been to, or places  you wish you could go to?

My novels seem to be all set in places and periods that intrigue me, often borderlands. Once it was the Mekong River, when I realized it flows from Tibet through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, emptying into the South China Sea. I’ve written about the covert CIA operation of getting the Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles across the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan during their resistance against Soviet occupation. About a Russian music conductor fleeing from Georgia into Turkey while his American wife waits with a helicopter. About a young American woman, betrayed by the CIA, slipping secretly into—and out of—Iran. About an American actress, true story, being swept away by a handsome maharaja into end-of-the-Raj India.

And, another true story, The Secret War of Julia Child, about the then-Julia McWilliams serving in America’s first espionage organization, the Office of Strategic Services, on the Asian front lines of World War II.

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?

An airline ticket. Many airline tickets! To many distant corners of the world. My husband likes to tell of our hotel on the Karakoram Highway between Kashgar, China and the Pakistani border, which hadn’t been cleaned since Marco Polo passed by. That was the narrow mountain border we had to dash across under an avalanche…carrying backpacks and a rolled up rug. Below was the Indus Gorge. But it was better not to look.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

The Hollywood actress-Indian maharaja novel, The Star of India, was published by Penguin Random House India, but I still don’t have a US publisher. My Russian novel, Beyond the Border, about the coming together of the worlds of music, technology, and espionage during glasnost, has not been published. Russian subject matter, even historical, can be difficult. And I came to feel that the Mekong novel, Into the Fire, might be too personal for one close to me. I poured a lot of my heart into that novel and don’t know if I’ll ever find the right balance.

What was the inspiration for your most recent book?

About ten years ago, I read that during World War Two, Julia Child had served with the OSS…In India, Ceylon, and China! I blinked and sat up straight. SPIES? And in a part of the world I was very connected to?! Something sparked inside me.

But Julia Child? The quirky middle-aged chef with the upraised spoon, frumpy wardrobe, and problematic hair? How did she fit in? I had to learn more.

Even though I love good food, I’d never really been a Julia fan girl! So, I’d have to get to know her. Imagine. The matronly “French Chef” with the twinkle in her eye had lived an entirely other life. Having to protect the secrets, think on her feet, determine whom she could trust.

I started with her two superb biographies, Dearie and An Appetite for Life—and soon fell for her. Julia McWilliams was spirited, creative, daring, a born leader, ambitious, and just so much fun. Throughout her life, she made brave, imaginative choices. At the age of eight, she confided to her diary her plan to be a famous woman writer. By then, she was already producing plays in her family’s Pasadena attic that she also directed, wrote, costumed, and acted in. She was determined to find a creative path in life and, later, a man to share it with.

She would finally meet him in Ceylon, the former Sri Lanka. The OSS mapmaker, Paul Child, was short, balding, pretentious, and almost-forty. Later they were posted to Kunming on the perilous front lines of southwest China where their relationship took hold amid bombs and black market intrigue.

Julia’s Asian journey had begun in Bombay where her troopship docked in April 1944. The deadly explosion of a cargo ship bearing cotton, gold bullion, and TNT was her initiation to war. The horrors would continue, death and destruction, treachery and deceit. But she would also find loyalty, friendship—and love. The awakening of her senses to food…and world culture. As I followed Julia’s path, she helped me discover her story. And mine.

We’d both spent conventional girlhoods in southern California, raised on meat and potatoes. But we were both rule-breakers, with big dreams. Our mothers took us to the library, where I first discovered the world. We both grew up on Nancy Drew and then moved on to mysteries and spy fiction.

The locales in her wartime journey were also my own touchstones. I’d never heard the thunder of bombs, but we’d both known monsoons, mud, and dust, dripping humidity and frizzing hair, sweat dripping down our legs. Also naan, mangoes, spicy curries, fragrant rice, and warm beer. Outdoor markets, their burlap sacks bursting with color and fragrance. We’d smelled the dung cooking fires…and seen the heart-breaking poverty. My sense of connection with Julia grew. Her work ethic and passion for life inspired me.

Like her, I’d bounced about through in my twenties, from LA to NY and back. I’d also spent two years in Paris, which was still in her future. But around age thirty, we were both called to India; for both of us these were formative years. Her story felt so personal!

The Secret War of Julia Child was a novel I had to write.

Diana R. Chambers was born with a book in one hand and a passport in the other. Her first explorations were in the library, plotting adventures on her world globe. She studied Asian art history at university, worked at a Paris translation agency, and began a handicrafts export business in India…which, serendipitously, led to Hollywood costuming. She was enthralled by the magic of creating worlds, and one of her first scripts was optioned for film. She wrote for several years on a Canadian/French/American detective series in Toronto and Paris. Since then, she has written four novels, including The Star of India, from Penguin Random House India. Her latest, The Secret War of Julia Child, was inspired by Julia’s OSS service in WWII India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and China. Published by Sourcebooks, it was an instant international bestseller and named a Best Book of 2024 by People and The Washington Post.

Diana lives with her family in Northern California and Aix-en-Provence, France. She continues to follow her stories around the world and back in time. For more on her books and research travels, visit her archived blog; you may also find her at Instagram, Bluesky, and Facebook.