The Surprising Life of Constance Spry

Description

A riveting new biography - the first for thirty years - of the influential floral artist and founder of the Cordon Bleu cookery school. Most people today, if they have heard of her, associate Constance Spry with the cookery book bearing her name. But Connie was much, much more than the author of a bestselling cookery book. She was deeply unconventional, extremely charming and very determined; Spry's life took her from the back streets of Victorian Derby to running a hugely successful business as the florist of choice for the highest of high society, organizing the flowers for royal weddings and indeed for the Queen's coronation. She endured a violent first marriage, had a lesbian affair with a cross-dressing artist and was a pioneer for working women at a time when few women had careers. Sue Shephard tells her extraordinary story with insight, wit and flair.

Sue Shephard is the author of Pickled, Potted and Canned: The Story of Food Preserving which won the Andre Simon Special Award and Seeds of Fortune. She lives in Bristol with her family.

"Fascinating . . . to be eagerly devoured." Clarissa Dickson-Wright, celebrity chef" "Makes you fall utterly in love with its subject. . . . Even if you re not interested in flowers, such was Spry s sure, clear vision, irrepressible liveliness, quickness of mind, and humanity, that flowers are neither here nor there." "New York Times StyleMagazine "" "Reveals with the greatest skill and sympathy an extraordinary person complicated, driven, sometimes secretive but gifted and artistic to an nth degree. What a story." Elizabeth Buchan, author, "Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman"" "Fascinating . . . to be eagerly devoured." --Clarissa Dickson-Wright, celebrity chef