5.0 out of 5 based on 3 reviews. – Customer review on 26/11/2009

Clarissa Dickson Wright was born in 1947, very much the youngest child of a wealthy but dysfunctional upper class English family with a dark secret. At the tender age of about seven, by which time her much older siblings had left home, she witnessed the first of many beatings dished out to her mother by her alcoholic father and it was not long before she too became a victim. Her father was a brilliant Harley Street Surgeon with a reputation second to none amongst his peers. The fact that he was a violent and abusive control freak when affected by alcohol was suppressed. His colleagues closed ranks when his wife attempted to publicly expose him, threatening to have her certified if she tried.

Clarissa - who was given no less than thirteen Christian names - the final one the name of her father's favourite pig, led a life of privilege in public but in private, a life of fear and misery. Her saving grace was her intelligence and clever manipulation of the power of hatred. Knowing her father wanted her to study medicine and his loathing of lawyers, she chose law and excelled. At twenty-one, she was, and still is, the youngest woman ever called to the bar.

When her beloved mother died unexpectedly, leaving Clarissa fabulously wealthy, her tenuous grip on reality was severed and she spiralled into a world of excess and alcoholism, eventually losing everything, including her career, her wealth and her reputation.

Her second chance at life came in the guise of Alcoholics Anonymous and she began to rebuild her world, initially indulging in her passion for cooking using local seasonal produce, with a wonderful disregard for politically correct food. A meeting with like-minded Jennifer Paterson resulted in the acclaimed television series, Two Fat Ladies which ended only with Jennifer's death.

Spilling the Beans is beautifully written, provocative, amazingly honest and very poignant but also very funny. My only criticism is a lack of proof reading. In the early part of the book there are three historical references to Australia, all incorrect. A good editor would have checked these before publication.

5.0 out of 5 based on 3 reviews. – Customer review on 06/10/2010

Wonderful Book, really insightful into Clarissa Dicksons Life, and she does spell a few beans too, I enjoyed it very much indeed!

4.0 out of 5 based on 3 reviews. – Customer review on 18/02/2009

Clarissa is an amazing woman. She's achieved so much, often at the highest levels, in her life; but makes no secret of the fact that she frittered away her sizeable inheritance, and became a raving alcoholic.

Now reformed, she's submerged herself in a huge variety of activities - her best-known being to do with cooking. And eating.

Parts of her story didn't interest me so much, being about very British people I'd never heard of, who seemed a bit stodgy; or else I couldn't relate to. But other parts are great fun, and most interesting.

No matter how many photos are included in biographies (and autobiographies) you always yearn for more; and Clarissa's book is no different. Happy snaps and formal shots are included in two sections, but I still would have enjoyed looking at even more pictures. They somehow bring the protagonist to life for me.

Good stuff, anyway.