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Fat Cow, Fat Chance
Fat Cow, Fat Chance
Oct 3, 2024 9:27 AM

Author:Jenni Murray

Fat Cow, Fat Chance

'A powerful, poignant tale of dieting and despair.' The Times

'A moving, brutally honest memoir about what it feels like to be fat-shamed.' Mail on Sunday

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At sixty-four, Jenni Murray's weight had become a disability. She avoided the scales, she wore a uniform of baggy black clothes, refused to make connections between her weight and health issues and told herself that she was fat and happy. She was certainly fat. But the happy part was an Oscar-worthy performance. In private she lived with a growing sense of fear and misery that her weight would probably kill her before she made it to seventy.

Interwoven with the science, social history and psychology of weight management, Fat Cow, Fat Chance is a refreshingly honest account of what it's like to be fat when society dictates that skinny is the norm. It asks why we overeat and why, when the weight is finally lost through dieting, do we simply pile the pounds back on again? How do we help young people become comfortable with the way they look? What are the consequences of the obesity epidemic for an already overstretched NHS? And, whilst fat shaming is so often called out, why is it that shouting 'fat cow' at a woman in the street hasn't been included in the list of hate crimes?

Fusing politics, science and personal pain, this is a powerful exploration of our battle with obesity.

_______________

'Agony and confusion, humour and hope. A beautiful book.' Susie Orbach, author of Fat is a Feminist Issue

'A perceptive look at health and happiness.' Sunday Express

Reviews

A powerful, poignant tale of dieting and despair.

—— Janice Turner , The Times

I'd put this book into every school as a warning to girls - and boys - not to waste their lives obsessing over food.

—— Mail on Sunday

A perceptive look at health and happiness.

—— Sunday Express

Jenni has a light touch when writing about hers and others struggles with eating and bodies. She does it too with the science, so that agony and confusion is mixed with humour and hope. A beautiful book.

—— Susie Orbach

Laudably frank.

—— The Big Issue

A painfully honest account of [Jenni's] lifelong battle to lose weight and an investigation into the physical and psychological causes of obesity.

—— Daily Mail

Sometimes you read a book that just makes you want to take the author's hands, look them in the eye and say thank you. This is that book. I needed to read it, you need to read it, everyone needs to read it

—— Stacey Halls, bestselling author of THE FAMILIARS

Warm and wide-ranging and wise, a wonderful companion and guide

—— Cressida Connolly, author of AFTER THE PARTY

One reading of this book is not enough. Conversations on Love is inspiring, insightful, comforting and hopeful in equal measure. Every page makes you think about why we feel the way we do and gently nudges you towards self compassion.

—— Rosie Green, author of HOW TO HEAL A BROKEN HEART

I've never felt such growth after reading a book - I felt seen, challenged, understood, provoked and soothed. It's such a touching reminder about the love that really is all around us, and the importance of tending to it. Conversations in Love is a study that I'll come back to again and again.

—— Laura Jane Williams, author of THE LOVE SQUARE and OUR STOP

Natasha Lunn is the most thoughtful interviewer I have ever encountered, with a heart as big as her brain, and these conversations are endlessly inspiring, restorative, surprising and delicious. Love is too often taken for granted: here it shines under rigorous analysis to create a manifesto of how and why we feel, and a must-read for anyone who has a heart!

—— Emma Jane Unsworth, author of ANIMALS

Breathtaking in its scope and breadth, Natasha Lunn combines the boundless curiosity of a researcher, the passion of a formidable writer, and the erudition of a deeply reflective thinker. She's daring and kind, and a joy to read. Conversations on Love offers us vital guidance for navigating all relationships

—— Charlotte Fox Weber, founder of The School of Life Psychotherapy

This is a book that people need to read about love in its many complex, challenging, sacred and profane forms

—— Jean Hannah Edelstein, author of This Really Isn't About You

This beautiful book is essential reading. I wish I could send this book back in time and read it to every past version of myself, to teach her all the hopeful and expansive possibilities of love. I know my future self will rely on it every day. Lunn's thoughtful interviews with brilliant subjects illuminate new ways of thinking about friendship, romance, attachment and loss. Beautifully written and so acutely observed, this book is a gift

—— Lucia Osborne-Crawley, author of I Choose Elena & My Body Keeps Your Secrets

This book is moving and lyrical, but more than anything it captures how love colours and transforms loss, and makes the reader feel that the memory of love is sustains in itself

—— Baroness Julia Neuberger

Rarely has a non-fiction book made me feel so seen, but also given me so much hope about love. Conversations on Love is an incredible book - not only is it so beautifully written but the full gamut of love is represented from families to romance to parenthood to friendship

—— Poorna Bell, author of STRONGER

A sure-fire contender for multiple buys and gifting to pals . . . It will honestly change how you think about love, in romantic relationships or otherwise, and has the power to overhaul your life in all manner of positive ways

—— Living Etc

Thought-provoking, wise and reassuring

—— Good Housekeeping

Conversations on Love will change your perspective of connection, love, friendship, grief, and everything in between. It's the most important book I've read this year, and it may have changed the way I approach relationships forever

—— Her.ie

This essential read could change your perspective on relationships, offering reassurance and hope

—— CultureWhisper

Thought-provoking and insightful.

—— Metro

Unflinchingly honest, emotionally raw, and surprisingly sweet.

—— SheerLuxe

Raw and funny, Heawood’s memoir celebrates the messiness of life and motherhood with boldness, panache, and unexpected moments of real poignancy. An uncensored and eccentric delight.

—— Booklist

Heawood writes with warmth and wit about life as a single mother.

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer, *Books to Look Out For in 2020*

Rejoice! One of our favourite journalists Sophie Heawood – known for her hilarity and honesty – publishes her first book this year. It's a memoir about being a single mother when you haven't quite worked out how to look after yourself.

—— Arielle Tchiprout , Red *The best books we can't wait to read in 2020*

[Heawood] shares her story with huge wit and sharp observation.

—— Hannah Stephenson , Irish Examiner, *12 of the best new reads for summer*

A tender and hilarious account of her life as a single mother.

—— Sophie Morris , i

This [is an] incredibly candid and often LOLs memoir about how it feels to raise a baby on your own when you're more into negronis than nappies.

—— Cosmopolitan

Reading Heawood's often outrageous and occasionally undignified anecdotes was the perfect tonic during the second national lockdown. Though hilariously funny, her story of accidental pregnancy is also tender and poignant, with her accounts of motherhood feeling far less common through a single-parent lens.

—— Independent

A tender and funny account of single parenthood

—— Guardian

Packed with humour and honesty, it's also tender, moving and relatable, detailing Heawood's own evolution and growth alongside her young daughter's, and the highs and lows of solo parenting.

—— Harpers Bazaar
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