Family Life: Birth, Death and the Whole Damn Thing

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'Unspeakably moving ... She deserves a medal' - Libby Purves, The Times

'One of the most powerful accounts you will ever read of a mother's love for her child' - Daily Mail

'Some of the most poignant and moving writing this year' - Daily Express
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An extraordinary and moving memoir of an unconventional, unforgettable family

Not everyone keeps an eagle owl in the spare bedroom cupboard, plays chess for the French Foreign Legion, or goes to school on an obstinate donkey. But this was all just a day in the life of the four Luard children. For the Luards, growing up as their family travelled across Europe, life was a series of adventures. Yet no family is immune to tragedy, and in Francesca, the eldest of three daughters, we find a true heroine. Honest, perceptive and passionate, she tells her own story until she can tell it no more.

Full of anecdotes and peppered with their favourite recipes, Family Life is an extraordinary story of joy, grief and, above all love. Elisabeth Luard gives a truthful and moving mothers account of their unconventional, unforgettable tale.

Reviews

Unspeakably moving ... She deserves a medal -- Libby Purves * The Times *
Writing with admirable courage, she contributes memorably to the literature of family life -- Elizabeth Buchan * Mail on Sunday *
Some of the most poignant and moving writing this year * Daily Express *
Books can be good, bad or patchy, but there are some that you will never forget. Elisabeth Luard's belongs in the last category -- Sue Gaisford * Independent *
One of the most powerful accounts you will ever read of a mother's love for her child * Daily Mail *

Author Bio

Elisabeth Luard is an award-winning food writer whose work includes European Peasant Cookery (published in the US as The Old World Kitchen, a New York Times benchmark cookbook of the twentieth century), The Food of Spain and Portugal, European Festival Food, Sacred Food and The Latin American Kitchen. She has also written a couple of doorstopper novels including Emerald (WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award), and a trio of memoirs-with-recipes including Family Life (a Guild of Food Writers Book of the Year), and was awarded the Glenfiddich Trophy for Foodwriting in 2007. She contributes regularly to national newspapers and magazines including The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Country Living and The Oldie and is currently Director of The Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery. She lives in west Wales.