East of Croydon: Travels through India and South East Asia inspired by her BBC 1 series 'The Ganges'

(Paperback)

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A brand-new travel inspired memoir from the fabulously funny, Sue Perkins A few years ago I was asked if I'd like to make a documentary on the Mekong River, travelling from the vast delta in Vietnam to the remote and snowy peaks of Tibet. Up until that point, the farthest East I'd been was Torremolinos, in the Costa Del Sol. Here's the thing- I am scared of flying. I have zero practical skills. I can't survive if I am more than a three minute walk from a supermarket. For the last seven years I have suffered with crippling anxiety I bolt when panicked. I cannot bear to witness humans or animals in distress I have no ability to learn languages. I am a terrible hypochondriac And I am no good with boats. So I said yes.

Reviews

Alongside laugh-out-loud travel stories, the book also provides a moving account of her coming to terms with her father's death * Daily Mirror *
Vivid, laugh-out-loud, moving * Sunday Express *
Alongside a wealth of vivid and hilarious travel stories, Sue also writes movingly about coming to terms with the recent death of her father as she stands beside the Ganges * Daily Express *
The former Bake Off presenter journeys far out of her comfort zone on travels from India to Indonesia, sharing entertaining travel stories and a moving account of grieving for her father * Pick of the holiday reads, Daily Mirror *

An unvarnished, endearing and very funny account

* Woman & Home *
Part memoir, part travel guide. A fab account full of wit and emotion * Prima *
Her misadventures deliver laughs aplenty, but she's also engaged with the places, politics and crucially, the people. Enjoyable, interesting and often moving * Book of the month, Wanderlust *
Praise for Spectacles: * - *
Drama, tears and laughs - Spectacles has got it all. A brilliant, touching memoir suffused with love, it reminds you that life is best lived at wonky angles. I ADORED it -- Jessie Burton, Bestselling author of * The Miniaturist *
Very funny . . . It seems there are two Sue Perkins: the TV one, who gabbles and pratfalls, and the sensitive one who aches. The first of course, exists to protect the second. They can both write. The first writes comedy, the second tragedy; in this sense, reading her memoir is very like meeting her * Sunday Times *
It's a proper book . . . so well written. Tight & bright & full of inspiration -- Chris Evans * Radio 2 *
Utterly wonderful. It's very, very funny and poignant and it's very Sue Perkins and that's the bliss of it -- Nina Stibbe, bestselling author of * Love, Nina and Man at the Helm *
Relentlessly cheering, Spectacles is as charming and funny as Perkins herself. Like going for a long, slightly drunken lunch with your naughtiest friend * Red Magazine *
Brilliantly written . . . fearlessly honest and full of heart, it will also make you laugh like a gibbon * Heat ***** *
I absolutely loved it . . . whip smart and very funny -- Fanny Blake * Woman & Home *
Life, love and loss - it's all here ... Warm, crisp and beautifully layered - like its author, Spectacles is a complete delight * Independent on Sunday *
[A] deftly written and belly-laugh funny autobiography . . . Though she never suggests she might be remotely brainy, she clearly is. Her vocabulary makes Will Self's seem lacking, her writing is full of discreetly clever allusions . . . If she wants her readers to like her, she certainly achieved it with this reviewer who laughed and cried and secretly wants her as a best friend -- Elizabeth Fremantle * Daily Express *
Sue's memoir will leave you feeling like you've made a new best friend. Introducing us to a cast of friends, family and love interests, and not forgetting a psychopathic nun, Sue picks apart life in a refreshingly honest, warm and downright hilarious way... Spectacles firmly cements her as an exciting writer of the future * OK Magazine *
This smart and funny story is far from the photo-heavy, ghost-written volumes that it will compete with . . . Perkins is such a good writer . . . incapable of writing a boring sentence -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * Sunday Express *

Author Bio

Sue Perkins is perhaps best known for being one half of double act Mel and Sue, where she plays the part of Mel. Together, the pair have bounced, shouted and gurned their way through countless hours of television, most memorably Light Lunch and its later counterpart, the imaginatively titled Late Lunch. Over the years, Sue has worked on a wide range of solo projects, including documentaries on art, popular fiction and history. In 2008 she appeared on the BBC show Maestro, culminating in her conducting at the Last Night of the Proms. She has also collaborated with food-critic Giles Coren on the Supersizers series, where the duo power-ate their way through five centuries of lungs, livers and testicles whilst half-cut on sherry. Sue hosts the panel show, Insert Name Here, as well as being a regular contributor to Just A Minute, QI and The Last Leg. She is also the presenter of the Game of Thrones companion show, Thronecast. East of Croydon is Sue's second book. Her first, Spectacles, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Oh, and she used to do a cake show on BBC1 @sueperkins