Book description
Elizabeth David was born into a upper-class family and pursued a
rebellious and bohemian life as a student of art and then an actress
in Paris, before running off with a married man to Greece and then
settling in Cairo, where she worked for the British government. After
the Second World War, she returned to England, where she was shocked
by poor food into writing first articles, then books on Meditteranean
cooking. A Book of Mediterranean Food was published in 1950, inspiring
a cookery revolution, bringing new flavours and ingredients to the
drab, post-war British diet. Over the next few years, David was to
become a major influence on British cooking, yet her classic cookery
books show little of the colourful personality behind the public
persona. Artermis Cooper, in this refreshing biography, reveals an
adventurous and uncompromising personality - a woman with a passion
for food, life and men. This is the whole story: of her strong
friendships, her failed marriage, tempestuous affairs and the greatest
love of her life, told with extensive refererence to David's private
papers and letters. 'In this wonderful and creative book, Cooper has
brought David to life... she not only writes like an angel, but has
done her research with great skill and obvious enjoyment.' Derek
Cooper, Sunday Times 'Engagingly well-written, thoroughly researched
and documented. One of the delights of Artemis Cooper's book is that
it makes you go back, time and again, to the source. And suddenly I
will find that I have whiled away the afternoon re-reading, for the
sheer pleasure of it, half of Spices or An Omlette and a Glass of
Wine.' Frances Bissell, The Times 'Fluent, engaging and astonishingly
readable.' Clarissa Dickson Wright, Mail on Sunday 'Artemis Cooper is
skilled and wise enough to handle the contradictory sides of David's
character without being either censorious or sensational.' Arabella
Boxer, The Times Literary Supplement
