Emma Brockes

The inspiring and deeply personal memoir from highly acclaimed chef Dominique Crenn By the time Dominique Crenn decided to become a chef, at the age of twenty-one, she knew it was a near impossible dream in France where almost all restaurant kitchens were run by men. So, she left her home and everything she knew to move to San Francisco, where she would train under the legendary Jeremiah Tower. Almost thirty years later, Crenn was awarded three Michelin Stars in 2018 for her influential restaurant Atelier Crenn, and became the first female chef in the United States to receive this honor - no small feat for someone who hadn't gone to culinary school or been formally trained. In Rebel Chef, Crenn tells of her untraditional coming-of-age as a chef, beginning with her childhood in Versailles where she was emboldened by her parents to be curious and independent. But there is another reason Crenn has always felt free to pursue her own unconventional course. Adopted as a toddler, she didn't resemble her parents or even look traditionally French. Growing up she often felt like an outsider, and was haunted by a past she knew nothing about. But after years of working to fill this blank space, Crenn has embraced the power her history gives her to be whoever she wants to be. Here is a disarmingly honest and revealing look at one woman's evolution from a daring young chef to a respected activist. Reflecting on the years she spent working in the male-centric world of professional kitchens, Crenn tracks her career from struggling cook to running one of the world's most acclaimed restaurants, while at the same time speaking out on restaurant culture, sexism, immigration, and climate change. At once a tale of personal discovery and a tribute to unrelenting determination, Rebel Chef is the story of one woman making a place for herself in the kitchen, and in the world.

“Riko rajasi. Ole enemmän." Inspiroiva kertomus huippu-urheilijasta, joka on uskaltanut olla oma itsensä ja puhua ääneen silloinkin, kun olisi ollut turvallisinta pysyä hiljaa. Megan Rapinoe on maailman tunnetuimpia urheilijoita. Hän on johtanut kahdesti Yhdysvaltain naisten jalkapallomaajoukkueen maailmanmestaruuteen. Elämäkerrassaan Rapinoe kertoo paitsi kasvustaan maailman parhaaksi naisjalkapalloilijaksi myös sinnikkäästä työstään tasa-arvon puolestapuhujana. Rapinoe kasvoi kuusilapsisen perheen kuopuksena konservatiivisessa pikkukaupungissa, joka ei ollut helpoin ympäristö avoimesti homoseksuaaliselle ja omapäiselle nuorelle naiselle. Hän kertoo, miten löysi oman tiensä ja päätyi lopulta suuren yleisön ikoniksi haastettuaan Yhdysvaltain jalkapalloliiton oikeuteen naispelaajien syrjinnästä ja kieltäydyttyään presidentti Donald Trumpin kutsusta Valkoiseen taloon. Megan Rapinoe (s. 1985) on Yhdysvaltain jalkapallomaajoukkueen kapteeni, joka on valittu maailman parhaaksi naisjalkapalloilijaksiEmma Brockes on tietokirjailija ja toimittaja, joka kirjoittaa muun muassa The Guardianiin, The New York Timesiin, Vogueen ja Elleen.

The inspiring and deeply personal memoir from highly acclaimed chef Dominique Crenn When Dominique Crenn was awarded three Michelin Stars in 2018 for her influential San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn, she became the first female chef in the United States to receive this highly coveted honor. As the first female chef in the United States to receive any stars from the prestigious Michelin restaurant guide, she had previously made waves as the first female executive chef in Indonesia. These were no small feats for someone who hadn't gone to culinary school or been formally trained in French kitchens. In Rebel Chef, Crenn reflects on her untraditional coming-of-age as a chef, beginning with her happy childhood in Versailles where, as the adopted daughter of a politician, she was emboldened to be curious and independent, and to find her own voice. She was exposed to fine dining from a young age, and a family friend, a restaurant critic, encouraged her to see the story behind the food. But at twenty-one, after deciding to become a chef, Crenn found it to be a near impossible dream in France, where men dominated the kitchens. Never one to be told no, she moved to San Francisco to work under the legendary Jeremiah Tower. It was there that her training began. But there is another reason Crenn has always felt free to pursue her own unconventional course. Adopted as a toddler, she didn't resemble her parents, or even look traditionally French. Growing up she often felt like an outsider, and was haunted by a past she knew nothing about. But after years of working to fill this blank space, Crenn recognized this duality as a source of strength, one which gives her the power to be whoever she wants to be. Filled with stories from the years Crenn spent working in the male-centric world of professional kitchens, tracking her career from struggling cook to being named the World's Best Female Chef, starring on Netflix's Chef's Table, and running one of the world's most acclaimed restaurants - while at the same time speaking out on restaurant culture, sexism, immigration, and climate change - Rebel Chef is a disarmingly honest and revealing look at one woman's evolution from a daring young chef to a respected activist. At once a tale of personal discovery and a tribute to unrelenting determination, Rebel Chef is the story of one woman making a place for herself in the kitchen, and in the world.

Emma Brockes is thirty-seven, lives alone, and wants children. And that's just the beginning - there are a million choices to make when taking the untraditional route to motherhood. With generous heart and humour, PanicJoy examines essential questions about motherhood and the modern family.

Emma Brockes didn't always love musicals. One of her most painful childhood memories is of her mother singing "The Hills Are Alive" while young Emma crossed the street en route to a babysitting gig. Mum said the music would keep muggers at bay. Emma found it warded off friends, a social life, and any chance of appearing normal. Some people would slice off their arm with a plastic knife before they'd sit through Fiddler on the Roof or The Sound of Music. But musicals are everywhere, and it's about time someone asked why. Emma Brockes firmly believes that, in this world, our lives might be much better lived to a Broadway score. Smartly written and incredibly witty, What Would Barbra Do? is part memoir, part musical history tour, and, at its heart, the touching story of a daughter, a mother, and how musicals kept them together. It will have you laughing and singing.

"One of those memoirs that remind you why you liked memoirs in the first place... It has the density of a very good novel... As you do with the best writers, you feel lucky to be in Ms. Brockes's company." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times A chilling work of psychological suspense and forensic memoir, She Left Me the Gun is a tale of true transformation: the story of a young woman who reinvented herself so completely that her previous life seemed simply to vanish, and of a daughter who transcends her mother's fears and reclaims an abandoned past. "One day I will tell you the story of my life," promises Emma Brockes's mother, "and you will be amazed." Brockes grew up hearing only pieces of her mother's past--stories of a rustic childhood in South Africa, glimpses of a bohemian youth in London--and yet knew that crucial facts were still in the dark. A mystery to her friends and family, Paula was clearly a strong, self-invented woman; glamorous, no-nonsense, and frequently out of place in their quaint English village. In awe of Paula's larger-than-life personality, Brockes never asked why her mother emigrated to England or why she never returned to South Africa; never questioned the source of her mother's strange fears or tremendous strengths. Looking to unearth the truth after Paula's death, Brockes begins a dangerous journey into the land--and the life--her mother fled from years before. Brockes soon learns that Paula's father was a drunk megalomaniac who terrorized Paula and her seven half-siblings for years. After finally mustering the courage to take her father to court, Paula is horrified to see the malevolent man vindicated of all charges. As Brockes discovers, this crushing defeat left Paula with a choice: take her own life, or promise herself never to be intimidated or unhappy again. Ultimately she chooses life and happiness by booking one-way passage to London--but not before shooting her father five times, and failing to kill him. Smuggling the fateful gun through English customs would be Paula's first triumph in her new life. She Left Me the Gun carries Brockes to South Africa to meet her seven aunts and uncles, weighing their stories against her mother's silences. Brockes learns of the violent pathologies and racial propaganda in which her grandfather was inculcated, sees the mine shafts and train yards where he worked as an itinerant mechanic, and finds in buried government archives the court records proving his murder conviction years before he first married. Brockes also learns of the turncoat stepmother who may have perjured herself to save her husband, dooming Paula and her siblings to the machinations of their hated father. Most of all, She Left Me the Gun reveals how Paula reinvented herself to lead a full, happy life. As she follows her mother's footsteps back to South Africa, Brockes begins to find the wellsprings of her mother's strength, the tremendous endurance which allowed Paula to hide secrets from even her closest friends and family. But as the search through cherished letters and buried documents deepens, Brockes realizes with horror that her mother's great success as a parent was concealing her terrible past--and that unearthing these secrets threatens to undo her mother's work. A beguiling and unforgettable journey across generations and continents, She Left Me the Gun chronicles Brockes's efforts to walk the knife-edge between understanding her mother's unspeakable traumas and embracing the happiness she chose for her daughter.

"A beautiful, wise book. It deals with the some of the grimmest aspects of human experience, but it is also one of the most genuinely up-lifting works I have read in years. Emma Brockes' superb, clear-eyed narration is an object lesson for any aspiring memoir-writer. She Left Me the Gun deserves to become a classic." Zoe HellerWhen Emma Brockes was ten years old, her mother said 'One day I will tell you the story of my life and you will be amazed.' Growing up in a tranquil English village, Emma knew very little of her mother's life before her. She knew Paula had grown up in South Africa and had seven siblings. She had been told stories about deadly snakes and hailstones the size of golf balls. There was mention, once, of a trial. But most of the past was a mystery. When her mother dies of cancer, Emma - by then a successful journalist at the Guardian - is free to investigate the untold story. Her search begins in the Colindale library but then takes her to South Africa, to the extended family she has never met and their accounts of a childhood so different to her own. She encounters versions of the life her mother chose to leave behind - and realises what a gift her mother gave her. Part investigation, part travelogue, part elegy, She Left Me the Gun is a gripping, funny and clear-eyed account of a writer's search for her mother's story.

Film musicals: you either love them or they make you want to kill yourself slowly with plastic cutlery. Nothing has the power to lift your heart or turn your stomach like Howard Keel in fake sideburns singing 'Bless Your Beautiful Hide' or Julie Andrews singing... well, just about anything.