Liz Fraser

'Raw, unflinching, incredibly brave' - BBC Woman's Hour 'Visceral and gripping' – Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun Coming Clean is a searingly honest memoir of loving an alcoholic – both through the heaviest drinking years and into recovery. When Liz Fraser's partner fell into a catastrophic vortex of depression and alcoholism, Liz found herself in a relentless hailstorm of lies, loneliness and fear, looking after their young child on her own, heartbroken, mentally shattered and with no idea what was happening or what to do. As she and her family moved between Cambridge, Venice and Oxford, she kept the often shocking truth entirely to herself for a long time, trying in vain to help her partner find a path to sobriety, until she herself finally broke from the trauma and started to speak out – only to find she was one of hundreds experiencing similar things, also living in silence and fear. Part diary, part travel journal and part love letter, Coming Clean is the true story of addiction of many kinds, mental collapse and heartbreak. Above all, it offers a voice of deep human compassion, strength and hope for recovery. I hope that in sharing this story it might change the way addiction is talked about and understood from both sides, encourage open, trusting and supportive dialogue between addicts and those their addiction affects, and provide some solace and help for those who need it – as I did.

This is not a book about parenting. There are 1.3 billion of those already, and the main thrust is, ‘if possible, try not to be a shit parent.’Instead, this is a book about us. You and me.The knackered parents, flailing about in the supposedly ‘easier’ Middle Years, when our babies have sprouted body hair and attitudes, we’re supposed to be ‘getting our life back’ at last . . . but everything feels as if it’s gone a bit tits down.From puberty to parents’ evenings, anxiety to A-Levels, divorce to depression, sex to social media, hormones to . . . Jesus, is that chin hair?!This comprehensive, honest, hilarious and at times heart-breaking rummage through the Rotting Salad Drawer of Midlife™ that we all go through but nobody tells us about until we’re already drowning in it, holds your weary hand and offers a giant, life-saving snog of, 'IT’S OK. IT’S NOT JUST YOU'.Praise for The Middle Years:'Everyone in the middle years of parenting needs to read this frank, funny and courageous book!' - Beverley Turner‘A TRIUMPH! Liz nails the reality of the Middle Years with humour, empathy and fearlessness. I laughed out loud, teared up and cringed.' - Natasha Pearlman, Executive Editor of Glamour US ‘This is a brilliantly insightful, wonderfully written, bloody funny book!’ - Ben Shephard, Good Morning Britain‘I am reading this and crying with laughter.’ - Tanya Byron

Liz Fraser was one of British cinema's favourite leading ladies for three decades. Instantly recognisable as the star of five Carry On productions, she also appeared in the Confessions and Adventures films, as well as regularly appearing alongside such comedy legends as Tony Hancock and Peter Sellers. This is Liz's remarkable story, in her own words. Liz includes shocking revelations about some of her best-known co-stars, reveals the heartbreak behind her two marriages and discusses her courageous battles with cancer.

Timeless wisdom for modern mothers.It all began with a conversation with my grandmother...When Liz Fraser spent a month with her grandmother, she was at her wits' end as a parent, fed up with crop-tops, pester power and the pressure to consume. So she asked her grandmother - what works? What helps make a good childhood?The answers were surprisingly simple - and stunningly effective.From early bedtime to giving your child room to play, the old-fashioned common sense of her grandmother's generation changed Liz's family life for good.Liz reveals the traditional rules that allow you to give your children back their childhood, while adding her own experience as a modern mum, aware we have to work with the world we live in now. The result is a book that reminds us how precious and short childhood is, and delivers practical solutions that every parent can employ.Comforting, friendly and reassuringly traditional, this is all everyone needs for a happier, simpler family life.

Forget the frump. Wave goodbye to those leggings – there's a new breed of mothers on the baby block. Yummy Mummies don't leave their sense of style in the maternity ward – the loving hands that rock today's cradles are manicured and moisturised. Becoming a mother, however Yummy, is still as challenging as it ever was. RELAX: help is at hand, with this no-holds-barred guide to surviving the biggest transition of your life. Liz Fraser is a (mostly) stylish mother of three young children, and offers a much-needed, fresh look at what happens to us, our relationships and our wardrobes when we take the plunge and fill our tidy homes with Lego. Hilarious, honest and poignant, Liz uses her experiences of motherhood to help you through pregnancy and the first year with your baby, making the whole event seem manageable – even desirable. Along with stylish, practical advice and searingly frank entries from Liz's diaries, other new mums have their say, including well-known Yummy Mummies such as Jemima French and Tamara Mellon. This indispensable guide is the stylist, personal trainer, box of anti-depressants, bar of chocolate and best friend which every woman can carry around in her handbag. Because becoming a mother doesn't mean you stop wanting to look and feel fabulous – it just becomes a little trickier!