N. M. Kelby

Photo by Ann Marsden

White Truffles in Winter

A breathtaking novel, rare and moving, about the world’s greatest chef and his unruly heart.

White Truffles in Winter imagines the world of the remarkable French chef Auguste Escoffier, (1846–1935) who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at The Savoy and The Ritz. A man of contradictions—kind yet imperious, food-obsessed yet rarely hungry—Escoffier was also torn between two women: the famous, beautiful, and reckless actress Sarah Bernhardt; and his wife, the independent and sublime poet Delphine Daffis who refused to ever leave Monte Carlo.

Set in the last year of Escoffier’s life, in the middle of writing his memoirs, he has returned to Delphine, who requests a dish in her name as he has honored Bernhardt, Queen Victoria, and many others. How does one define the complexity of love on a single plate? Kelby brings us the sensuality of food and love amid a world on the verge of war in this work that shimmers with beauty and longing.

More About The Author

In addition to her novels, N. M.Kelby has written a book, The Constant Art of Writing, that is a must read for developing authors serious about making it.

From that first story idea to publication and beyond, being a novelist is an evolving process. The Constant Art of Being a Writer helps you discover the mindset and skills you need to grow as an artist and confidently approach each aspect of writing and publishing.

The book explores core fiction-writing techniques like idea generation, outlining, character development, and the use of black comedic moments and magic realism, as well as essential business-related topics like getting an agent, self-promotion, crafting a bestseller, the ins and outs of a successful author tour, and much more. There’s even a section on planning your literary estate. With lively instruction, innovative writing tips, and original exercises, The Constant Art of Being a Writer is a guide you can count on every step of the way.

Pow! An astonishing book, a book of importance and urgency for anyone who is serious about making a living at writing. Don't wait, don't stall, don't browse. Buy a copy right now.
— Seth Godin, author of Tribes

Praise for White Truffles in Winter

Kelby shows what it meants to take risks as a novelist.
—Baltimore Sun

Beautifully layered and lovingly detailed, White Truffles in Winter is a tale of extraordinary people entangled in a captivating love story. Filled with lush and decadent longing, this novel will dazzle the mind as well as the senses.
—Diana Abu Jaber, Birds of Paradise

I was instantaneously drawn into this novel, and all of its exquisite writing about food. It also contains one of the more unique and affecting seduction scenes I have ever read, and for its uniqueness, utterly believable.
—Pam Houston, Cowboys Are My Weakness

White Truffles in Winter is a seductive, voluptuous journey into the heart of French cuisine. I wanted only to linger longer at this luscious feast that brims with passion and yearning.
—Lauren Belfer, City of Light

Praise for Whale Season


In the rollicking tradition of Carl Hiaasen’s Tourist Season, with the heart of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon, and peopled by the kind of colorful characters who would be quite at home in any Tom Robbins novel, N. M. Kelby’s Whale Season is a sharp and funny novel made up of equal parts comic adventure and serial-killer inspired mayhem.
—Publishers Weekly

Whale Season is purely delightful—rich, clever, and crawling with affectionately twisted characters. Nicole Kelby is a natural-born storyteller who manages to be very funny and very wise at the same time.
—Carl Hiaasen, Tourist Season

An engrossing story of deliverance told like a parable about second chances . . . a fast piece of pop-lit that fans of Tom Robbins will enjoy.
—People Magazine

Required Reading...a trip to and beyond Hiaasen country.
—New York Post