From the New York Times bestselling author of Lunch in Paris comes a deeply moving memoir of building a life—and learning how to save it—in the South of France, where an artisanal ice cream shop becomes the backdrop for an unforgettable story of family, marriage, and second chances.

Food writer and native New Yorker Elizabeth Bard has spent a decade building a new life in France: a charming French husband, a young son, and a thriving artisanal ice cream business. She’s living the dream, but things are about to get real. Really real.

Ice Cream Sunday follows Elizabeth’s search for acceptance, of her new culture, and herself. This is 40, French-style: building a dream, losing a parent, testing marriage, fumbling motherhood, all topped with three scoops of raspberry sorbet. How do you find home in a place that doesn’t always understand your ambitions, or your pronunciation? How do you hold on to yourself when everything you’ve built begins to unravel? At the center of this mid-life tempest is a woman emerging into a new kind of adulthood, fighting to become the wise elder in her own life.

Bard’s story travels from the heart of a medieval village in Provence to Arles, land of Roman ruins, white horses, and pink flamingos. Throughout, she clings to the people, markets, and recipes that sustain her, learning the journey doesn’t have to be smooth to be magnifique, we are never quite finished growing up, and—like a hot fudge sundae, life is at its best when it gets a little messy.

Filled with the wit, warmth, recipes, and irresistible French charm that have made Bard a beloved voice, Ice Cream Sunday is about fighting for the things we love, including ourselves. It’s a story about love and marriage, mothers and daughters, getting stuck and moving forward. About celebrating the adventures we have chosen—and a few we haven’t.