Promotional Information

Richly evocative memoir of childhood, filled with the tastes of India, by bestselling cookery writer Jaffrey.

About the Author

Now regarded by many as the world authority on Indian food, Madhur Jaffrey is an award-winning actress and bestselling cookery author. Her first book, An Invitation to Indian Cookery, was published in 1973 and her series for BBC television Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery made her a household name. She has appeared in over 20 films, including Merchant Ivory's Heat and Dust, and written over 15 cookery books, including Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible (2003), published by Ebury Press.

Reviews

Memoirs don't come much more mouthwatering than this
*You Magazine*

'...looks to be a real treat. It will appeal to the legion of Madhur Jaffrey fans and to armchair cooks everywhere with its evocative story'
*The Bookseller*

With the sparkle of a true storyteller, Madhur Jaffrey leads the reader through her childhood in India with enchanting warmth and grace....Recollections of her vast family's changing relationships....are told through vivid colours, rich flavours of spice and sweetness, and intense smells, textures, sounds and feelings. Those who like getting their teeth into a good biography will be pleased to receive this
*Easy Living*

Enchanting...redolent of spices and the smells of cooking all under the Indian sun
*Daily Express*

The celebrated actress and author of several books on Indian cooking turns her attention to her own childhood in Delhi and Kampur. Born in 1933 as one of six children of a prosperous businessman, Jaffrey grew up as part of a huge "joint family" of aunts, uncles and cousins-often 40 at dinner-under the benign but strict thumb of Babaji, her grandfather and imperious family patriarch. It was a privileged and cosmopolitan family, influenced by Hindu, Muslim and British traditions, and though these were not easy years in India, a British ally in WWII and soon to go though the agony of partition (the separation and formation of Muslim Pakistan), Jaffrey's graceful prose and sure powers of description paint a vivid landscape of an almost enchanted childhood. Her family and friends, the bittersweet sorrows of puberty, the sensual sounds and smells of the monsoon rain, all are remembered with love and care, but nowhere is her writing more evocative than when she details the food of her childhood, which she does often and at length. Upon finishing this splendid memoir, the reader will delight in the 30 "family-style" recipes included as lagniappe at the end. Photos. (Oct. 11) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Memoirs don't come much more mouthwatering than this * You Magazine *
'...looks to be a real treat. It will appeal to the legion of Madhur Jaffrey fans and to armchair cooks everywhere with its evocative story' * The Bookseller *
With the sparkle of a true storyteller, Madhur Jaffrey leads the reader through her childhood in India with enchanting warmth and grace....Recollections of her vast family's changing relationships....are told through vivid colours, rich flavours of spice and sweetness, and intense smells, textures, sounds and feelings. Those who like getting their teeth into a good biography will be pleased to receive this * Easy Living *
Enchanting...redolent of spices and the smells of cooking all under the Indian sun * Daily Express *