female friendships – Vegan Book Blogger

ABOUT THE BOOK

England, 2018: Jayne is quiet. She keeps to herself and has no grand expectations for her days. But after a chance encounter with her elderly neighbor, Meredith, Jayne is forced to reevaluate her determination to keep the world at a distance. Meredith’s dust-covered home is chaotic and neglected. And slowly, Jayne starts to grasp that Meredith herself is quite lost. She can’t seem to remember anything: what she last ate, when she last went out or saw her daughter, or even Jayne’s name, despite what are becoming frequent visits.

But most alarmingly, Meredith can’t remember where her husband is.

Unable to sit by and watch Meredith hurting, Jayne promises she’ll find William. But how can she when the biggest clue Jayne has is a mystery itself: a stunning couture gown with a note declaring it a personal gift to Meredith…from Princess Diana.

England, 1988: Meredith is always calm. You have to be when working for one of the most iconic women in the world. Just as the stitches she uses to create Princess Diana’s wardrobe are steady and stable, so is Meredith. Until she finds herself feeling off-kilter and untethered by an unexpected connection with someone in the workshop. As Meredith finds herself swept up in life and love for the first time, everything she’s ever dreamed about seems in reach…if only she can be brave enough to take it.

MY THOUGHTS

This book has such substance to it a heartfelt and emotional book. A very telling story.

Jayne, a dog walker in an apartment building, friends with some of the other apartment dwellers but had never met Merideth, an elderly woman whom she senses needs some help when they do meet.

Jayne and Merideth form a strong and caring friendship, each benefitting from it in a different way. Jayne visits Meredith daily yet needs to introduce herself each time as Meredith doesn’t remember her, or even when she ate last.

My grandmother went through dementia and it’s so tragic and she as Meredith are so vulnerable. Meredith was a famous seamstress sewing for royalty now she can’t even remember where her husband is or why her daughter never visits her.

You will be immersed in the world of dressmaking from years ago as you make a discovery about an important missing society dress. To be taken inside the mind of someone with dementia is tragically sad but wonderful to see moments of clarity as memories of the past are recalled.

A special friendship discovered as cherished memories are shared. I enjoyed visiting the locations through the book the women visited and reading about their details. They sounded like fun trips. Very well written. Highly recommended!

About the Author

Jade Beer is an award-winning editor, journalist, and novelist who has worked across the UK national press for more than twenty years. Most recently, she was the editor in chief of Condé Nast’s Brides. She also writes for other leading titles, including the Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Glamour, Stella magazine, and is one of the Mail on Sunday’s regular fiction and nonfiction book reviewers. Jade splits her time between London and the Cotswolds, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Thank you for stopping in. Have a beautiful day.

400 pages William Morrow publisher November 16,2021 publish date

rubylane

ABOUT THE BOOK

Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick * A Country Living Best Book of Fall * A Washington Post Best Feel-Good Book of the Year * One of the New York Times’s Best Historical Fiction Novels of Fall

In a novel perfect for fans of Hazel Gaynor’s A Memory of Violets and upstairs-downstairs stories, Annabel Abbs, the award-winning author of The Joyce Girl, returns with the brilliant real-life story of Eliza Acton and her assistant as they revolutionized British cooking and cookbooks around the world.

Before Mrs. Beeton and well before Julia Child, there was Eliza Acton, who changed the course of cookery writing forever.

England, 1835. London is awash with thrilling new ingredients, from rare spices to exotic fruits. But no one knows how to use them. When Eliza Acton is told by her publisher to write a cookery book instead of the poetry she loves, she refuses—until her bankrupt father is forced to flee the country. As a woman, Eliza has few options. Although she’s never set foot in a kitchen, she begins collecting recipes and teaching herself to cook. Much to her surprise she discovers a talent – and a passion – for the culinary arts.

Eliza hires young, destitute Ann Kirby to assist her. As they cook together, Ann learns about poetry, love and ambition. The two develop a radical friendship, breaking the boundaries of class while creating new ways of writing recipes. But when Ann discovers a secret in Eliza’s past, and finds a voice of her own, their friendship starts to fray.

Based on the true story of the first modern cookery writer, Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen is a spellbinding novel about female friendship, the struggle for independence, and the transcendent pleasures and solace of food.

Upperclass Victorian Era Cooking Dinner Courses, Meals, Foods

MY THOUGHTS

I found Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen to be an interesting book. The book is loosely based on the life of Eliza Acton, a woman I had never heard of until reading this book.

Eliza Acton wrote a collection of poems and had arranged for it to be published through a publisher. At this point she had been writing poetry for a few years. The book sold well and had several reprintings. Upon writing another collection of poems this one was declined at the publisher, and she was told to write a cookery book. She took ten years to write her cookery book and it was aimed at the English middle class. The book was the first of its kind to list ingredients and a suggested cooking time.

Eliza had never cooked before but was now forced to. England has many exciting and new ingredients to use, and, in her experimentation, she was not afraid to try cooking foreign dishes with their spices and ingredients.

Ann Kirby is hired as her assistant cook and the two develop a friendship outside of the normal social class boundaries. As the two women’s friendship develops, we see Ann looking up to Eliza as she is taught about not only cooking but about poetry, life skills and love. Eliza has become a real mentor to her.

When you hold someone in such high esteem and then discover something they have hidden that brings them down to a human level again you are highly disappointed, and this became the downfall of the two women’s relationship.

This reminds me of an upstairs, downstairs type of book. Very interesting and informative book that I enjoyed a lot.

Pub Date 16 Nov 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

THE AUTHOR

Annabel Abbs is the multi-award-winning author of The Joyce Girl, Frieda, Windswept, The Language of Food (Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen in the US) and 52 Ways to Walk. Her next book, Sleepless, comes out in 2024.

Abbs is also the co-writer of The Age-Well Project (written under Annabel Streets), a non-fiction work which explores the latest science of longevity and has been serialised in the Guardian and The Daily Mail.

Her journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Irish Times, Tatler, The Author, Sydney Morning Herald, The Weekend Australian Review, Psychologies and Elle Magazine.

Abbs has a BA in English Literature from the University of East Anglia, where she now sponsors a post-graduate scholarship in creative writing, and an MA from Kingston. She was born in Bristol, and now lives in London and East Sussex. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @annabelabbs, or visit her website, http://www.annabelabbs.com.

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