Here is the no-holds-barred autobiography, read by the author, of one of the nation's best-loved cooks. Her life has led her from wealth and privilege to alcoholism, bankruptcy, and eventually fame in Two Fat Ladies.
As a privileged child, shooting and hunting were the norm, and pigeons were flown in from Cairo for supper. Clarissa's mother was an Australian heiress; her father was a brilliant surgeon to the Royal family. But he was also a tyrannical and violent drunk who used to beat her and force her to eat carrots with slugs still clinging to them.
Clarissa was determined and clever, though, and her ambition led her to a career in the law. At the age of 21, she was the youngest-ever woman to be called to the Bar. Then disaster struck when her adored mother died suddenly. It was to lead to a mind-numbing decade of wild over-indulgence. Rich from her inheritance, in the end Clarissa had partied away her entire fortune.
It was a long, hard road to recovery, along which Clarissa finally faced her demons and turned to the one thing that had always brought her joy: cooking. Now at last she has found success, sobriety, and peace. With the stark honesty and the brilliant wit we love her for, Clarissa recounts the tale of a life lived to extremes. A vivid and funny story, this audiobook is as moving as it is a cracking good listen.
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"Having found the TV series, "Two Fat Ladies" enormously entertaining and interesting, I enjoyed reading Clarissa Dickson Wright's autobiography, "Spilling the Beans". It the tale of a life lived to the hilt, the bad, the good, the adventurous, the heartbreaking. She survived physical abuse by her famous surgeon father, and 10 years of alcoholism and promiscuous sex, and finally through hard work, good friends, and AA, managed to lick her demons. Much of the book is about her wild years and it ends with her devotion to the countryside and blood sports. She is a larger-than life person, personality as well as size, and I will look at the cooking programs again with delight. Her partner, Jennifer, for me the quirkiest of the two, sadly died of cancer very unexpectedly, an admirable character Two funny ladies."
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Rdonn (4 out of 5 stars)