Lady Fanshawe's Receipt Book: An Englishwoman’s Life During the Civil War - Softcover

Vividly brings to life an ordinary woman living in extraordinary times. Rich in fascinating detail, it sets Lady Fanshawe's story of love and loss, family and friendships, against one of the most turbulent periods of our history. Highly recommended. * Tracy Borman, author of THE PRIVATE LIVES OF THE TUDORS * An erudite, beautifully written and completely original contribution to the history of the civil war. Lucy Moore is a most worthy biographer of one of the most fascinating women of the 17th century. * Katie Hickman, author of DAUGHTERS OF BRITANNIA * Ann Fanshawe was an extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times. This wonderful book has at its heart her experiences as daughter, wife and mother during the Civil War, and is as dramatic and touching a story as anything in fiction. Her attempts to hold her family together in such turbulent times are brilliantly chronicled by Lucy Moore, who has written an unfailingly sympathetic account of the human cost of conflict, and the everyday resilience and bravery of those caught up in it. * Janice Hadlow, author of THE STRANGEST FAMILY * With enormous skill, and in matchless prose, Lucy Moore brings back to life one of those Royalist women whose husbands suffered terribly for the King, while they were left at home to get on with the trying business of being wives, mothers, and heads of household in an age beset with turbulence, and fear. * Charles Spencer, author of KILLERS OF THE KING * Charming and original. * Literary Review * A lively, affecting account of one family's fortunes in a world turned upside down. * Spectator * An enchanting, idiosyncratic Tardis of a book, peppered with good humour * Daily Telegraph * Moore's prose is witty. Her book is full of arresting detail and thoughtful comment. -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Sunday Times * Fascinating... A vivid account. -- Philippa Gregory * The Times *

'Fascinating... A vivid account' - Philippa Gregory, The Times In the mid-seventeenth century, England was divided by Civil War, but inside the home domestic life continued as it always had done. Lady Ann Fanshawe's 'receipt book' was a treasured and entirely feminine response to the upheavals of war, which left few doctors to be found. And so Ann's morocco-bound book full of scraps of ink-stained paper contained everything from lifesaving remedies to recipes for hot chocolate. Using Ann's receipt book and the memoirs she wrote for her surviving son, Lucy Moore follows her through this turbulent time as she leaves home, marries, bears - and buries - children and seeks to hold her family together. Lady Fanshawe's Receipt Book brilliantly illuminates the life and times of an English woman's Civil War.