This isn`t just any cookery book. It is Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961, and it`s a book that is a statement, not of culinary intent, but of aspiration, a commitment to a certain sort of good life, a certain sort of world-view; a votive object implying taste and appetite and a little je ne sais quoi. Julia Child was like Amelia Earhart, or Eleanor Roosevelt: she was a hero who`d gone out there and made a difference. Her books are a triumph, and also a trophy. AA GILL, The Times