And Amanda has come out of the other side, not necessarily unscathed, but a brighter, happier, more positive woman for it. Alice Jolly’s Dead Babies and Seaside Towns is about motherhood, grief, infertility and the British coast. I wrote a memoir of my dad, And When Did You Last See Your Father?, in the 11 months after his death, whereas the one about my mum, Things My Mother Never Told Me, took me years. One was about losing a parent, the other about belatedly finding a parent; one was emotionally charged, the other a work of research, drawn from letters written before I was born (and in that respect not a memoir at all).

Women Like Us: A Memoir is an emotionally uplifting and relatable true memoir of one of my favourite authors life and this book has only made me love her even more.I guess the first question to ask is, what kind of woman am I? Well, you know those women who saunter into a room, immaculately coiffed and primped from head to toe? We live in a world where, how others perceive us and the way we live our lives impacts on the way we feel about ourselves, making us mostly insecure. Amanda finally (after many years and much soul searching) overcame that pressure. It wasn’t easy, and it meant facing some difficult conversations with loved ones, things that had been left unsaid for far too long. Amanda Prowse is a real life best selling author, who on the surface, is successful and happy, giving off an air of self confidence and control, but who is the person that actually lives behind that facade? Well we’re about to find out, and kudos to Amanda for laying bare her whole life for us, as she explains how she uses food as a coping mechanism, a secret friend. It’s heartbreaking, (almost gut wrenching at times) it’s also amusing though, particularly as Amanda’s arse takes centre stage, quite literally as a child! Above all though it’s inspiring.

Sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious and always entirely relatable, Prowse details her early struggles with self-esteem and ho I have heard/read and even used warts and all used many times and I absolutely am using it for this book however it is probably the first time I am using it with actual pure felt meaning! So if you don't know who Amanda Prowse is she is an author who has written A LOT of books, I have read 3 with a few more on my tbrm and many more to buy! So about the book, Prowse takes us through her life, from a wee barra, teen, adult and authorhood. For a long time I have been a fan of the books written by Amanda Prowse, so I grabbed this opportunity to read her biography and find out more about the person behind the books.From her childhood, where there was no blueprint for success, to building a career as a bestselling novelist against all odds, Amanda Prowse explores what it means to be a woman in a world where popularity, slimness, beauty and youth are currency—and how she overcame all of that to forge her own path to happiness. Be surprising Work against the material. The reader will bring her own experience to it, so allow for that. Don’t be afraid to find humour round a death-bed, say, or tenderness amid misery and abuse. Sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious and always entirely relatable, Prowse details her early struggles with self-esteem and how she coped with the frustrating expectations others had of how she should live. Most poignantly, she delves into her toxic relationship with food, the hardest addiction she has ever known, and how she journeyed out the other side. Amanda is a huge supporter of libraries and having become a proud ambassador for The Reading Agency, works tirelessly to promote reading, especially in disadvantaged areas. Amanda's ambition is to create stories that keep people from turning the bedside lamp off at night, great characters that ensure you take every step with them and tales that fill your head so you can't possibly read another book until the memory fades... Amanda Prowse has built a bestselling career on the lives of fictional women. Now she turns the pen on her own life.