Biography What She Ate by Laura Shapiro review – witty essays on women and food From Barbara Pym’s love for gastronomy to Eva Braun’s ruthless dedication to staying thin, these biographical essays about famous women and their food are clever and revealing Barbara Pym at the front door of Barn Cottage in Finstock, Oxfordshire, 1979. Photograph: United News/Popperfoto/Popperfoto/Getty ImagesIn this collection of clever, witty biographical essays, Laura Shapiro explores the relationship of six famous women to food. When the mental mist cleared for a moment, Dorothy told William that she was really only happy when she was eating. Pym knew the metaphoric value of food too, and she deployed it to deadly effect both on and off the page. • What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories is published by 4th Estate.

Source: The Guardian January 26, 2018 10:52 UTC