New novel by Tonbridge parent tells story of ‘Britain’s first domestic goddess’
A historical novel about Eliza Acton – described as the first modern cookery writer, and a figure with strong Tonbridge connections – has been written by a member of the School’s parent community.
Annabel Abbs’ new work, The Language of Food, the story of Eliza Acton, Britain’s first domestic goddess, publishes in the UK in February and is currently being translated into 16 languages. Already released in the US, the book has been commissioned by CBS to become a TV series.
Eliza (1799-1859) was an English food writer and poet who produced one of Britain’s first cookery books aimed at the domestic reader, Modern Cookery for Private Families. The book introduced the now-universal practice of listing ingredients and giving suggested cooking times for each recipe.
By the time she was in her 20s, Eliza was living in Tonbridge, with very close proximity to the School. She resided at No. 1 Bordyke (now The Priory) with her mother, brother and sisters. Eliza’s Acton’s brother and nephew were pupils at Tonbridge, while her cookery book has titles which include ‘Kentish’ sausage meat, suet pudding and cherry jam, ‘Tonbridge’ brawn, and ‘Bordyke’ veal cake, preserved ham and bread. There is even a Monitor’s tart or ‘tourte a la Judd’ – a fruit tart named after Sir Andrew Judde, the founder of Tonbridge School.
The new novel is Annabel’s third: her debut, The Joyce Girl, won the Impress Prize, was a Guardian Reader’s Pick, and is currently being adapted for the stage. Her second novel, Frieda: The Original Lady Chatterley, was a Times 2018 Book of the Year. She has been longlisted for the Bath Novel Award, the Caledonia Novel Award and the Waverton GoodRead Award.
Annabel has a son at Tonbridge, in the Third Year, and her husband also attended the School. “I found Eliza Acton in an antiquarian collection of cookery books amassed by my mother in law when she was a cookery teacher in the 1950s,” she said. “We inherited the collection when she downsized to a smaller house, but it wasn’t until 20 years later that I started cooking from it. Acton’s recipes and her writing style were head-and-shoulders above that of her peers.”
She added: “I would arrive early at Ferox House to collect Hugo, then nose around the area trying to imagine it in 1837. Sometimes I stayed at The Rose and Crown, which was Acton’s nearest Inn, and spent my days retracing the steps she and Ann, her assistant, would have taken as they went to the market, to church or to the asylum in Barming Heath.”
The Tring Book Festival calls The Language of Food “the most thought-provoking and compelling historical novel you’ll read this year”, adding: “Abbs explores the enduring struggle for female freedom, the complexities of friendship, the creativity and quiet joy of cooking and the poetry of food, while bringing Eliza Acton out of the archives and back into the public eye. A portrait of Victorian domestic life that is both encompassing and finely detailed.”
