-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
Spilling the Beans
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Spilling the Beans for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Packed with hilarious anecdotes, fizzing with energy, throbbing with pain, this has to be the autobiography of the year' (Daily Mail )
'She packs her story with marvellous anecdotes' (Sunday Times )
'This is a searing book, but also one with rays of good humour' (Country Life )
'Extraordinary and occasionally heartbreaking story' (Belfast Telegraph )
'Fascinating' 'An often funny, shocking and very honest read' (Active Life )
'She packs her story with marvellous anecdotes' (Sunday Times )
'This is a searing book, but also one with rays of good humour' (Country Life )
'Extraordinary and occasionally heartbreaking story' (Belfast Telegraph )
'Fascinating' 'An often funny, shocking and very honest read' (Active Life )
Product Description
Clarissa was born into wealth and privilege, as a child, shooting and hunting were the norm and pigeons were flown in from Cairo for supper. Her 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.
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 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, it is as moving as it is a cracking good read.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have the audio book read by Clarissa and thoroughly enjoyed this candid report of the ups and downs of her life. Born into a privileged family but with the downside of an alcoholic and abusive father, Clarissa details how she initially used her intellect to survive by taking to the bar then abused herself by taking to the bottle. A committed Countrywoman, skilled cook and clever raconteur, she details how her cooking skills helped her survive both the loss of her mother, her career, and the death of a dearly loved friend. I am glad you got off the bottle Clarissa - so you will live that much longer to remind us that we must not let those who are anti everything ruin our enjoyment of simple pleasures like real Country Life - oh and cooking with cream!
95 of 100 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What an amazing, moving, autobiography. A strong person who through her relentlesly non-self-pitying honesty gives hope to all of us with our own acknowledged flaws, and allows us to form other perspectives on various ideas about life without thrusting her own views upon us. Thank you, Clarissa. Perhaps you could now turn your hand to writing novels, since it would be unfair to expect another volume of your autobiography just yet. You have left me wanting to read more of your fabulous thoughts, which could surely be given somewhat more of a free rein in a novel, so please think about turning your talents in that direction.
Sadly, I don't suppose you will ever see this. If anyone else does, I cannot recommend this book more strongly; it is both uplifting and inspiring.
Cora-Lynne
Sadly, I don't suppose you will ever see this. If anyone else does, I cannot recommend this book more strongly; it is both uplifting and inspiring.
Cora-Lynne
46 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have always loved Clarissa Dickson Wright's TV programs and books. I followed the Two Fat Ladies and Clarissa and the Countryman avidly. When I caught a preview of this book in the Sunday Mail, I preordered it there and then.
It was from the beginning an very matter of fact tale of a person who has led an incredible life of ups and downs and then when it seemed all was lost, turned it around when so many may have just given up.
From being violently abused by her famous father, becomming a barrister just to spite him, to falling into the abyss of alcoholism and then digging herself out again, this story had me enthralled and amazed from the first page to the last.
I recommend it to anyone who is facinated by the human being's ability to survive against the odds.
It was from the beginning an very matter of fact tale of a person who has led an incredible life of ups and downs and then when it seemed all was lost, turned it around when so many may have just given up.
From being violently abused by her famous father, becomming a barrister just to spite him, to falling into the abyss of alcoholism and then digging herself out again, this story had me enthralled and amazed from the first page to the last.
I recommend it to anyone who is facinated by the human being's ability to survive against the odds.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
an honest account of her life
An absorbin read, I learnt a lot about things I had not thought about befor. Could not put the book down and was constantly quoting from it. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Mrs. J. Chamberlain
CLARISSA
This book arrived as promptly as usual. I am afraid that this book will be well worn by the time it has been passed around the family. Good job I ordered hardback. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mp Coupland
Great book.
Great book written by one of today's few real characters. There are wonderful stories as well as a lovely walk through some of recent history's better moments described from an... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. Douglas Green
Spilling the Beans - Clarissa Dickson Wright
Bought this autobiography for a friend, she said she found it very informative and interesting, what more can anyone ask of a book.Spilling the Beans
Published 11 months ago by Anne Lambert
amazing life
just read this amazing book and i thought it was fab, wanted to keep reading to see how clarissa got her self through the ups and downs that she was faced with and such a good... Read more
Published 15 months ago by ashmores
Not my Scene
CDW states that she doesn't "have a very high regard for the medical profession coming as I do from that world......". Read more
Published 21 months ago by W. Tegner
Outstanding
This is the only book (and I am an avid reader) that when I, with great reluctance, reached the last page went right back to the beginning and started again. Read more
Published 21 months ago by amadarling
A good read.
Clarissa Dickson-Wright writes in a conversational, engaging style. She is frank about her violent and unpredictable father and his influence, or lack of it on decisions she has... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Freda Kent
Enjoyable
This was a very good account of CDW life so far, at times it was heart breaking to read of the dreadful things that she had to endure but uplifting that she got through all of the... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Janine Routley
One fatr lady
I have been reading the autobiography of Clarissa Dickson Wright, a horsy lady who was a TV chef as one of "Two Fat Ladies" and now fronts rural programming. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2010
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
