Book review: The Food Of Love

GREAT books have the power to make readers stop in their tracks and rethink everything they thought they knew. 

Amanda Prowse

Lake Union Publishing, £8.99;

ebook, £3.99

Amanda Prowse’s latest novel, The Food Of Love, is one such book.

Dealing with the often taboo subject of eating disorders and, in particular, the distressing and harmful realities of those suffering with the disease, Prowse delivers a hard-hitting, vivid portrait of one family’s descent into the clutches of illness that will have readers considering their own attitudes to food and body image.

The novel focuses on the Braithwaite family: Mother Freya, father Lockie, eldest daughter Charlotte, and youngest daughter Lexi.

Theirs is a tight and happy family unit that seems unbreakable. But when Lexi develops an eating disorder, it threatens not only Lexi’s wellbeing, but that of the entire family.

Prowse centres the narrative on Freya, and in doing so delivers a nuanced portrayal of a mother’s love for her daughter and her struggle to do what is best for her child and her family.