I’m such a fan of Amanda Prowse that I’m thrilled to be part of the launch celebrations for The Food of Love which was published yesterday, 1st December 2016, by Lake Union. The Food of Love is available for purchase in e-book, audio book and paperback here.

Since I began blogging I have reviewed Another Love by Amanda Prowse here, and My Husband’s Wife here. I was also honoured to host an interview with Amanda that you can read here.

The Food of Love

Inspired by Amanda’s own extreme struggle with body image and a family history of anorexia, this is a compelling and heart-wrenching look at family, food and the challenge of raising teenagers in our self-obsessed, image conscious society.

Freya Braithwaite knows she is lucky. Nineteen years happily married to a man who still excites her, two beautiful teenaged daughters, and her dream career as a health food writer. Her home is filled with love and laughter, with a passion for food at its very core.

But no amount of love could have prepared Freya for the devastating impact of anorexia and bulimia on her family. In a desperate battle to rescue her youngest child from its clutches, Freya will do all she can to save her daughter, her marriage and her family. But how can she when food, the social glue of their family, is both the problem and the solution? Is Freya’s own obsession with clean eating partly to blame? And how can you save someone who doesn’t want to be saved?

My Review of The Food of Love

Under the very nose of her food writer mother Freya, Lexi is spiralling into the clutches of anorexia with a disease that will affect the whole family.

I have always loved everything I’ve ever read by Amanda Prowse, finding her able to look inside the very soul of humanity and create characters who are vivid, human and multi-faceted. However, in The Food of Love I truly believe she has surpassed herself. I think The Food of Love is possibly Amanda Prowse’s best novel yet.

Frequently when I read Amanda Prowse’s books I’m reduced to tears, but that didn’t happen this time. It wasn’t because I wasn’t moved by the situation the Braithwaite family find themselves in, but rather that I experienced such a range of emotions from sadness and empathy to shock and horror that it was almost as if I dare not let go otherwise I wouldn’t recover. I felt a visceral response which reminded me very much of the feelings I have recently endured in my own life, albeit in different circumstances with my stroke affected father and his eventual death. When I read the time countdown sections I was in a state of perpetual fear wondering what their outcome might be.

The writing is a masterful account of what it is like to live with someone with a terrible mental illness whom you love but can’t help. The relationship between Freya and Lockie, for example, is so realistic my heart broke for them. I would like to see The Food of Love read by those with family members in similar circumstances and by those working in professions that support them as it gives a terrible insight into a family in meltdown and provides some answers as to what might, and might not, help. The research and honesty that has gone into this spellbinding narrative is outstanding.

I feel I ought to write more about The Food of Love, but I can’t. Its effect is sitting in my very soul and I don’t have sufficient vocabulary to explain. Just read it for yourself.

About Amanda Prowse

Amanda Prowse is a bestselling novelist with an incredible 136K followers on Twitter. This is her sixteenth novel and her books have been translated into a dozen languages and regularly top bestseller charts all over the world. Amanda has been dubbed ‘The Queen of Domestic Drama’ and writes about ordinary women and their families who find their strength, courage and love tested in ways they never imagined.

Through writing The Food of Love, Amanda has come face to face with her own feelings of shame, secrecy and obsession with food. Overweight as a child and a yo-yo dieter as an adult, Amanda has struggled with body image and overeating all her life.

All of Amanda Prowse’s wonderful writing is available here .

You can follow Amanda Prowse on Twitter and visit her web site here. You will also find her on Facebook.

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