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Vale Magazine 11
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PRUE Leith’s smorgasbord of captivatingcareers is really enough to satisfy thehungriest of people. But, at 76, therestauranteur, caterer, cook, newspapercolumnist, businesswoman, charitychampion, TV star and now popularromantic fiction writer is eager for anotherchallenge.
Prue has just published the second book inher Food of Love trilogy, which has beenoptioned for a TV series by Stephen Fry’scompany Sprout with Parallel Films.
If it comes off, and Prue’s not counting herchickens, it will be the icing on the cake: “If itworks - I’m nothing if not a dreamer - Icould try to become a screenwriter, whichwould give me a new lease of life,” shebeams.
Most of us know Prue as the Michelin-starred (for Leith’s) culinary queen with avast larder of cookery books and newspapercolumns, a string of food-related charities,plus Leith’s School of Food and Wine andher Chef's Academy in South Africa, whereshe was born.
But actually, the lady who was awarded anOBE in 1989 and a CBE in 2010, hasn’t
published a recipe in more than twodecades, after ditching food writing tobecome an author of fiction, much to thealarm of her publishers.
“It didn’t feel brave at all,” insists Prue,whose first novel - Leaving Patrick - waspicked up by Penguin. Her latest - TheProdigal Daughter - has just been publishedby Quercus (£19.99, hardback).
“I’d been writing about food for a very longtime and I was very conscious that I hadbecome stale. Plus there were so many newcooks coming on, who were also wonderfulwriters and I needed to clear the decks towrite a novel.”
Her first book draft was savaged by hereditor, but Prue, gulped, listened, honed andproduced a winner, and a trail of successesthereafter.
Trouble is, people still see her in ametaphoric chef’s hat. So Prue set up herwebsite www.prue-leith.com to “persuadethe world that I’m not a cook orrestaurateur anymore, but now a full-timenovelist.”
But her expensive tome Leith’s CookeryBible, written with UK school partner
Caroline Waldegrave, is still selling like hotcakes and she still gets more websiterequests for advice on cooking than how towrite fiction.
Moreover journalists like me can’t resistasking her about the Great British Bake Off
EVESHAM FESTIVAL OF WORDS: 30 June - 2 July, 2017
Prue’s tasty new challengePRUE Leith is having the time of her life, with a TV blockbuster on the cards for her latest
novels and a new husband on her arm. Evesham’s 2017 Festival of Words headline speaker tellsLynne Powell why life is bliss.
V. Mag. 204 P.11 24/10/2016 16:06 Page 1
Vale Magazine 13
expert, a journalist, opens a pub, launches acatering business and does themed parties.
“My editor advised I drop a couple, sayingno-one could possibly do all of that. I said itIS possible - I did it!”
The best advice she offers to an aspiringnovelist is, well... to write.
“I despair of people who say they’ll writewhen they retire or have time. Writing is likea disease - you just have to do it,” says Prue,who first got the fiction bug writing children’sstories when her two were nippers.
“Often when I finish a book, even though Ienjoyed doing it, I think never again! Thenafter about three weeks, you get that itchand it’s something you’ve just got toscratch.”
And the pleasure well outweighs the pain.Prue says getting her first novel publishedgave her a bigger thrill than getting thatMichelin star, CBE or the Businesswoman ofthe Year accolade.
“They were wonderful, but they are teamawards and I wouldn’t have got themwithout the people around me,” sheexplains.
“Writing is all my own work and you neverforget that amazing feeling of holding yourfirst book in your hand.”
Happy times for Prue. Photo by JP Masclet
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V. Mag. 204 P.13 24/10/2016 16:06 Page 1
Vale Magazine 12
furore, although, to be fair that is relevant asshe’s a star on two hot food TV showsherself - BBC 2’s Great British Menu and thejust-launched My Kitchen Rules UK onGBBO’s new home, Channel 4.
“I’m not quite sure why I do television. Iguess it’s just ego, although it’s fun too.
“It is quite nice when people recognise mein the supermarket,” admits Prue, who tells acracking tale of the taxi driver whorecognised her as that food lady off the tellyand then proceeded to rubbish her footballteam Norwich.
“Being mistaken for Delia is fine by me. I’ma great fan!”
And Bake Off? Well Prue’s only seen oneepisode, Nadia’s crowning final, but, says the1990 Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of theYear, business is business.
“Love Productions is a commercialcompany with a very valuable asset forwhich they’ve been offered more money.Why wouldn’t they move?”
With big ticks for all of her own careershifts, Prue is a pretty happy lady... evenhappier now. She got wed again last month,after finding love for the third time in her life- and it has also rekindled her love forcooking.
“I’ve never cooked for two before and it’smade me a lot more imaginative,” says Prue,who’s more used to catering for largenumbers.
“John tells everyone I feed him leftovers.He says I just open the fridge, look at what’sin it and invent something. He is goodenough to add that it’s always delicious and
he’s never had the same dish twice.” Herlife, I say, sounds pretty darned perfect. Sheagrees: “I do feel extremely lucky. If thesword of Damocles came down today andthat was the end, I’d think it’s a fair copbecause I have had such a nice life.”
Could anything make it better, other than abig fat TV mini series? Well she and her newhusband John Playfair, six years her junior,have a plan.
Currently the couple have separate housestwo miles apart, near Moreton-in-Marsh.Their dream is to build a new hometogether, a project that will be led by hands-on John, who has already built the couple’sfive grandchildren a fabulous adventureplayground.
“It will be great fun,” says Prue, “although Itease him that we’ll have to have mybungalow on one side, his on the other andthe carers in the middle!”
* Book your tickets now ateveshamfestivalofwords.org for an eveningwith Prue Leith on June 30.
The write movePRUE Leith will have plenty of tips for
would-be novelists at Evesham’s Festival ofWords and top of the Do Not list isdefinitely don’t start with a trilogy.
“I hadn’t grasped, although my publishersdid warn me, how difficult that is,” she sighs.
“For a start, you have to kill off charactersto make way for new ones and every bookmust stand on its own merit as well as partof three.
“You have to have an enormous timelineto ensure that you know where eachcharacter is at any point and map it againstworld events... otherwise you just get into afantastic muddle.”
Prue also has a huge file on everycharacter’s physical features, actions andfoibles for her Food of Love treble, whichstretches from WW2 to now.
“It’s a logistical nightmare, but I like thatbecause I’m quite organised.”
When she’s in full flow Prue usually writesfor four hours in the morning, when she’s ather most creative, and edits in theafternoon. “At the beginning I’m absolutelyhopeless and do the odd bit when I feel likeit.
“Then, as the deadline approaches andthings get more desperate, I work out howmany writing hours I need to finish the thing,put a big chart on the fridge door and no-one’s allowed anywhere near me,” addsPrue, who’s been known to start tip-tappingaway at 4am when the heat’s on.
She heartily recommends being a memberof a writing group to get your workcritiqued, a good editor when it’s time and athick skin when they start slashing.
“My editors have been terrific, but theyhave to be fairly brutal. You have to fight theresentment when you see they’ve marked25 things wrong and that’s just on page one.They know what they’re talking about.
“I am pretty obedient, but no editorexpects you to obey her absolutely.
“In The Prodigal Daughter, for example, myheroine starts at cookery school and goes
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