Memoirs Of A Not So Dutiful Daughter

The powerful and moving exploration of a relationship between a mother and her 'not so dutiful' daughter, by 'the voice' of Radio 4's Women's Hour.

She is not just the voice of Radio 4's Woman's Hour...She IS Woman's Hour.

An intense story, vividly and sometimes humorously told.

Intimate, confessional ... as powerfully raw and moving as anything I've ever read.

It is her fearless examination of her "love-hate" relationship with her mother ... that is most fascinating.

She tells her story with admirable candour

A painfully honest account of a complex relationship.

A captivating account of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s by the Woman's Hour presenter... she describes in frank and compelling detail how her parents have influenced and shaped her life, setting her personal experiences against a backdrop of changing social attitudes, politics and culture.

It is as though this skilled journalist is interviewing herself, reining back the instinct to comment and teasing out the story.   This history of women's lives... is one well worth the telling.

A humorous and deeply human account, looking back at the rejected little girl who became the voice of Radio 4... a warm and revealing memoir.

Murray is as scrupulously honest in depicting her own failings as her mother's, and the depth of their affection - "I feel I am beginning a love letter" she writes - shines through.

The only child of an electrical engineer and a mother who resented the fact that she'd never been to university, the broadcaster Jenni Murray grew up in a traditional household in the 1950s. But instead of becoming the conventional housewife her mother expected her to be, Jenni opted to forge her own path in both her career and her personal life. 
 
The resulting tensions have lasted as long as she can remember. How, she has often wondered, could two women be so close, so full of love for each other, and at the same time so full of hate that they broke each other's hearts? 
 
And so Jenni began her remarkable memoir - and continued to write throughout 2006 as her mother lay dying, and Jenni struggled to care for her and her beloved father while herself being treated for breast cancer. 
 
Filled with love and laughter, frustration and heartbreak, and with the courage 'to keep on keeping on' even in the darkest days, it will speak to every mother and daughter, dutiful or not.

That's My Boy

Presents the latest research on the development and education of boys, drawing on Jenni's own experience of raising two sons, as well as that of other parents

just as she brought both humour and experience to her best-selling book on the menopause, Murray takes the same approach in this invaluableguide.  That's My Boy! covers everything you need to know about raising boys, from how to cope with hours spent ona  rugby touchline, to how to tell when cuddles are welcome

an instructive and indispensible guide to bringing up happy and confident boys

A well written, humourous and ironic book.  A must for parents with boys

a persuasive and eminently readable blend of cultural analysis and anecdotal evidence, examining society's attitudes towards boys and the gender assumptions that we all sometimes make.  She doesn't shy away from the big issues, addressing the thorny issues of education, fightin, sexuality and father-son relationships with a forthright approach and a wry good humour.  A fascinating read of you've got (or are expecting) boys of your own.

A poignant, practical, light-hearted and celebratory look at raising boys with a strong and controversial message, asking that parents and the education system take responsibility for the 'feminisation' of boys, in much the same way as attention was paid to the 'masculinisation' of girls.   Media and government attention is now being focussed on the fact that girls are outperforming boys academically but no mention is made of what kind of husbands and fathers they will make.   With many families stretched to breaking point on the rack of mismatched expectations, boys need guidance on juggling work and family in the same way as girls are expected to; becoming domesticated as well as surviving in the jungle of accepted notions of 'masculinity'.  The vital message is that boys, like girls, should have choices and should not be forced into the stereotypical role of the male as absent father or football fan. That's My Boy! covers boys' lives from birth to 18 and discusses everything from how a mother deals with the shock of caring for and maintaining a member of the opposite sex, how to endure hours spent on a rugby touchline, how to read the signs that indicate a longing for physical affection and whether or not to laugh at sexist jokes they bring home.

A modern woman's guide to the menopause

Is It Me Or Is It Hot In Here?

An authoritative and accessible guide for women approaching the menopause who are not ready to take to their beds and be waited upon!

In Is it me or it hot in here? Jenni Murray, one of Britain's most popular journalists and broadcasters, addresses the menopause. She looks at what the menopause is - its symptoms and how it affects overall health. She also looks at the psychological and social implications. There is an overview of the latest research on HRT - its benefits and drawbacks - and the new work which is being done on various 'alternative' therapies. She includes discussions on sex life, social life, face-lifts (or otherwise), exercise (or otherwise), keeping your figure and discovering one's place in life as a middle aged woman in a feminist era. The section on rethinking the menopause looks at changing attitudes and how to cope with post-menopausal life, offering a new agenda for post-menopausal women. Throughout, the tone is inquiring but accessible, making it one of the most appealing books on the menopause written to date.

Jenni Murray

A powerful, poignant tale of dieting and despair.

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

A perceptive look at health and happiness.

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.

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

The science and psychology of size

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.

Fat Cow, Fat Chance

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Jenni Murray

Praise for Fat Cow, Fat Chance

A powerful, poignant tale of dieting and despair.

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

A perceptive look at health and happiness.

A powerful, poignant tale of dieting and despair.

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

A perceptive look at health and happiness.

A powerful, poignant tale of dieting and despair.

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

A perceptive look at health and happiness.

Books by Jenni Murray

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