Susie Kelly – författare

Each time it seems things cannot get any worse, they do as Susie lifts the lid on her own, often shocking, behavior in her quest to protect herself and those she loves. Rebellious, lonely and self-destructive, it is a small grey pony named Cinderella who saves Susie from herself and brings her the love she craves. Readers will shed a tear at her losses and laugh at her predicaments in this sometimes hilarious, often heartbreaking, true story that gives a moving and often shocking insight in to the earlier life of the bestselling travel writer famed for her humour and her honesty. Key words: autobiography women, biography and autobiography, adventurers and explorers, Africa memoir, childhood memoir, Kenya, 1950s memoir, dysfunctional family, dysfunctional families, Africa, childhood in 1950s, travel Africa, African travel, travel memoir, 1950s London, London memoir, Kenyan travel memoir, Africa memoir, childhood memoir, dysfunctional families, Kenya, Africa, 1950s, adventurers and explorers

The popular travel author makes no claims to being a cooking queen. She admits that over the years she has made every cookery mistake possible, including pouring hot oil back into a plastic bottle and watching the bottle melt and flood most of the kitchen. Then there was the great icing sugar misunderstanding...but in The Lazy Cook Susie has put together an irresistible collection of the tasty, comfort-food recipes that are enjoyed by her family and friends, spattered with generous blobs of anecdote and humour. One of those rare cookery books that won't be left on the shelf, but will mature with well-thumbed age as its pages become patterned with stains of food, wine, cream, butter and all things delicious

Susie has already walked across France 900km solo from La Rochelle to Geneva (Best Foot Forward) and driven the entire circumference of France (Travels With Tinkerbelle), but cyclist she is not. By suggesting an electric bicycle to get her through the worst of the uphill slogs, her husband persuades her that a cycling holiday travelling on 2 wheels is by far the best way to see the virtually undocumented part of France they plan to explore. And so their cycling holiday begins, and, with not a few mishaps and misgivings, it turns out. In 3 weeks Susie and Terry cycle 500 miles in the little-explored Champagne region of northern France, dining sometimes in luxury and often on weird makeshift meals in their tent. After a hair-raising journey through Paris that nearly ends in her own execution by traffic, Susie finds an area of calm waterways and tranquil countryside bursting with history. Idyllic territory for cyclists. Her route takes her from Versailles to the vineyards and champagne cellars of Epernay and Reims then through the Marne valley, the scene of unimaginable horror and devastation during World War 1.Along the way there are traumas, epiphanies, occasional matrimonial disagreements and the odd glass of champagne. Keeping up appearances amongst the petite, chic French at some of Susie's more luxurious stops creates some serious fashion moments, tempered, as always, by Susie's good humor and resilience.

As the world's worst housekeeper, running holiday homes wasn't, with hindsight, a sensible idea. But two collapsing buildings on Susie Kelly's land would cost more to demolish than to restore. Thus she became a seasonal landlady. Before the guests came the builders. No's 1, 2, 3 all started promisingly, but by builder No. 4, and with her first guests just hours away, her patience was stretched to its limit. Her summer and winter visitors couldn't, as they say, be made up, though, to spare their blushes some of them have been air-brushed. They brought with them laughter, tears, romance, friendship and occasional madness. And they all left behind jars of jam and pots of pepper. From them Susie learned that you don't need to travel to find adventure. If you run holiday homes it comes to your doorstep. Unfortunately for Susie this included Ivy. The cleaning lady from hell.

Susie makes no claims to being a cooking queen. She admits that over the years she has made every cookery mistake possible, including pouring hot oil back into a plastic bottle and watching the bottle melt and flood most of the kitchen. Then there was the great icing sugar misunderstanding...but in The Lazy Cook 2 she has put together an irresistible collection of the tasty, dessert recipes that are enjoyed by her family and friends. One of those rare cookery books that won't be left on the shelf, but will mature with well-thumbed age as its pages become patterned with stains of food, wine, cream, butter and all things delicious. See also The Lazy Cook (Book One): Quick And Easy Meatfree Meals

Unlike her daredevil husband, Susie Kelly is afraid of water, elevators, heights, skiing and flying upside down and she hates being in the spotlight. No matter how hard she tries, things seem to go wrong more often than they go right. Fortunately she can see the funny side of most things, even her cancer diagnosis. However, snoring transforms her from a sweet little thing into a pitiless monster.   These often funny and sometimes poignant tales of travels through Susie’s muddled life confirm that, as Simon Reeve writes in his autobiography ‘Step by Step’, ‘…it is always worth remembering that some of the most memorable times can happen when things go a bit wrong.

The author and her husband devised a simple plan - to take a tent and the dog and drive around the perimeter of France. Like many simple plans it went wrong before it started and they ended up with two dogs and a campervan named Tinkerbelle. Starting in Brittany, they drive along the Atlantic Coast south to the Pyrenees, then follow the Mediterranean resorts to the Alps before juddering off towards the north coast along terrifyingly high mountain causeways. But on the second day of their journey Tinkerbelle begins to self-destruct, helped by the new dog who does his best to eat her from the inside out. This is their story, as they travel from sandy beaches to snow-topped mountains exploring the diverse cultures, cuisines and countryside making up the country called France. Their journey takes them to places out of the ordinary, meeting interesting characters and witnessing ancient traditions. While the dogs rejoice in the freedom they find running on the beaches, Susie and Terry spend a lot of time holding their breath, wondering whether their clapped out old campervan called Tinkerbelle will manage to negotiate impossible mountain routes and get them home before she completely disintegrates.