The Food of Love by Amanada Prowse

About The Food of Love

A loving mother. A perfect family. A shock wave that could shatter everything.

Freya Braithwaite knows she is lucky. Nineteen years of marriage to a man who still warms her soul and two beautiful teenage daughters to show for it: confident Charlotte and thoughtful Lexi. Her home is filled with love and laughter.

But when Lexi’s struggles with weight take control of her life, everything Freya once took for granted falls apart, leaving the whole family with a sense of helplessness that can only be confronted with understanding, unity and, above all, love.

In this compelling and heart-wrenching new work by bestselling author Amanda Prowse, one ordinary family tackles unexpected difficulties and discovers that love can find its way through life’s darkest moments.

My Review of The Food of Love

 

The Food of Love is a poignant, heart wrenching, page turner of a book. Once I started to read, I could not stop. I read this book a few days ago, but I still find myself thinking about the characters and what happened to them. They crawled under my skin, and they are not quite yet ready to let go. Needless to say, I loved this book.

 

The story focusses on an ordinary family, a couple who have been married for nineteen years, and their two teenage daughters. They are a family like any other, and this is what struck me the hardest while reading this book. This family could be my family. I have been married for the same amount of years and I have two boys, albeit much younger. But it is the normality that struck me, and that this normality can be shattered at any moment.

 

Amanda Prowse is an extraordinarily skilled storyteller, in that she can very easily turn the tables on the ordinary and domesticated perfect life. All of the characters within this book have to face some harsh realities, and face up to their weaknesses. In particular, I empathised with the mother in the story, Freya Braithwaite, most probably because she is nearer my age, and a mother. As a mother, I feel like I have to always do the right thing, say the right thing and be the backbone of the family, I very rarely ask for help, and I saw all of these characteristic in Freya. It was throughout the book that she had to question those characteristics, and how she and her family could support her daughter, Lexi.

 

This book is obviously about eating disorders, a taboo that very rarely gets talked about, mainly I feel because there is little understanding. I hold my hands up and state that I know very little abut eating disorders. But now that I have read The Food of Love, I have more understanding about how eating disorders impact both the individual and their family.

 

The Food of Love is such an important book, and I feel that every mother, daughter, auntie and grandma should read this book. No, scrap that, EVERYONE should read this book. It raises the issue  in a sensitive and empathetic manner; of what it means to have an eating disorder, of how it effects the individual and of how that individual and family can gain support.

 

This is a book about love, honesty and the importance of family. I highly recommend it. Everyone needs to read this book.

 

The Food of Love is published on Dec 1st by Lake Union Publishing.

 

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an Advanced Redder Copy 

           

About Amanda Prowse

 

Amanda Prowse likens her own life story to those she writes about in her books. After self-publishing her debut novel, Poppy Day, in 2011, she has gone on to author twelve novels and six novellas. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages and she regularly tops bestseller charts all over the world. Remaining true to her ethos, Amanda writes stories of ordinary women and their families who find their strength, courage and love tested in ways they never imagined. The most prolific female contemporary fiction writer in the UK, with a legion of loyal readers, she goes from strength to strength. Being crowned ‘queen of domestic drama’ by the Daily Mail was one of her finest moments. Amanda is a regular contributor on TV and radio, but her first love is and will always be writing. You can find her online at www.amandaprowse.com, on Twitter @MrsAmandaProwse, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/amandaprowsenogreaterlove.