Friendship has its own distinctive seasons, constantly changing and evolving, just as the years revolve.

Cooking for a friend, you can show your affection in a direct, practical way. Composing a menu to suit or intrigue a particular beloved person, you are demonstrating how well you understand and appreciate them.

This book is divided into three overlapping seasons, following the 1929 classic La bonne cuisine by Madame Saint-Ange. In each section you will find dishes and suggestions appropriate to the season as well as ideas for particular seasonal moments, such as sardine baguettes à la Colette, designed to be packed into bicycle baskets for picnics. The recipes are designed to be straightforward to follow so you can concentrate on your guest rather than dashing between stove and table.

This is a book to stimulate your appetite to invite a dear friend round as soon as possible and cook for them.

Reviews of French Cooking for One

• 'An enduring delight for readers and cooks alike.' - Nigella Lawson
• 'Mussel salad with ravigote sauce. Rabbit with mustard. Steak with bordelaise sauce. So many micro feasts, and every one of them nourishment for body and soul. (...) Most of the recipes, short and uncomplicated, aim to deliver the perfect effort-to-taste ratio; if she has an Elizabeth David-like briskness on the page, she's also a sensualist, a part-time sybarite. But even if you're not in the mood for cooking, simply to read them is to encourage rumination. She is such a noticing writer, and in her hands you find yoeurself doing the same, a dowdy cauliflower suddenly beautiful, a slab of marbled meat a world unto itself.' - Rachel Cooke, Observer
• 'This slender volume insists that food for one should be simple yet delicious. Drawing on memories of her French grandmother's cookery, Roberts' recipes are elegant and - mostly - quick to prepare: celeriac croquettes, trout with almonds, or sausages with apples and cider. A delightful little book.' - Constance Craig Smith, Daily Mail Best Cookery Books for Christmas
• 'Michele Roberts' enchanting book French Cooking for One proves la cuisine francaise can be enjoyed alone, when there is nothing to interrupt the joy of preparing good ingredients and turning them into enticing dishes. Her anecdotes and notes of wisdom that accompany the recipes make her the perfect companion in the kitchen.' - Carolyn Boyd, author of Amuse Bouche
• 'What makes this cookbook stand out from the crowd of publications extolling French culinary culture is the way in which is combines gastronomy and memoir. Roberts' voice is clear and authoritative and she clearly excels at what Grimod de la Reyniere referred to as "the art of eating well". She captures the love of French cooking, and cits blend of common sense and sensual pleasure. French cooking is about nurturing the soul with home-cooked meals, and that philosophy is evident throughout.' - Georgia de Chamberet, BookBlast

Michele Roberts was born in 1949 to a French mother and an English father. A former food columnist for the New Statesman, she has always written about food and cookery in her novels and short stories. She is the author of 15 acclaimed novels, including Daughters of the House (shortlisted for the Booker Prize). She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des lettres, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.