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Francesca Hornak is a journalist and writer, whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Marie Claire, Red, Grazia and Stylist. Her column History of the World in 100 Modern Objects first appeared in The Sunday Times Style Magazine in 2013, and ran for 2 years. She lives in Islington, London and is currently working on her next book Worry with Mother.
Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2018 For fans of David Nicholls and Richard Curtis movies, this is an observational, tender and heart-warming drama about the trials and tribulations of spending a week with your family at Christmas. What a beautiful, perceptive, absorbing read this is. Family drama… yes, yet it’s more. Relationship tale… yes, yet it’s much more. Incredibly readable… oh yes yes yes! The Birch family are due to spend the seven days over Christmas at their holiday home in Norfolk in strict quarantine, as doctor Olivia has been in Liberia treating a serious epidemic. The prologue and first chapter take hold of this family, and toss their lives sky-high, I was well and truly hooked, and found myself reluctant to put the book down, even for a second. Francesca Hornak writes with empathy yet she cuts through to the heart of things, creating a believable, relatable, touchable family. As events spiralled out of control, yet in ever decreasing circles, and relationships unravelled, I wondered where on earth we were all going to end up. The ending is as satisfying and emotionally enthralling as the journey to reach it. ‘Seven Days of Us’ is a terrific read, I savoured every word, and I can’t wait to see what Francesca Hornak offers next. ~ Liz Robinson
Beautifully illustrated by renowned cartoonist Dorrance, this book is a welcome slice of light relief from all the fretting mums are expected to do these days. Francesca Hornak has taken a light-hearted, humorous look at the concerns and worries of the modern mother. You know, those kind of thoughts that just pop in to your head (usually at 3 in the morning whilst trying to grab a few precious moments sleep) and make you feel ever so slightly crazy. Well fear not as there is an anecdote for everyone within the pages of this book. Relax in the knowledge that your craziness is most definitely shared and enjoy a giggle as you consider everything from the ludicrously long list of hospital bag labour ‘essentials’ to late night stakeouts awaiting the return of teens. Not only will this make you smile (and possibly occasionally grimace) but it will also help bring a little perspective to those moments when you feel like the worst parent ever. A wonderful gift for all mothers old or new, expectant or even for the just plain exhausted.
From her Sunday Times column Francesca Hornak has taken 100 columns highlighting iconic objects that any middle-class person would see as essential such as a Farrow and Ball sample pots to a Smeg fridge. There are some oddities along the way – ukuleles and dreamcatchers for two and if you read it from beginning to end it becomes a rather sad story of anxious folk on the wrong side of the work/life balance struggling to buy all their “stuff”. But - if you note the subtitle then we're all in on Francesca Hornak's joke, a very funny dig at modern life. ~ Sue Baker Like for Like Reading Word on the Street: Ridiculous Things We've Overheard in London , Time Out Editors Middle Class Problems: Problems but not Actual Problems, Just Middle Class Ones , Benjamin Lee
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