Victoria Twead

About

About Victoria Twead:

Victoria Twead nagged her long-suffering partner, Joe, into moving from England to Spain in 2004. They settled into a tiny mountain village in Andalucía, became reluctant chicken farmers and ended up owning probably the most dangerous cockerel in Spain.

Woven into the chapters are a number of Spanish recipes given to Vicky by the village ladies.

Victoria’s hilarious record of their culture shock and life with the villagers is told in her two books, Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools and Two Old Fools - Olé! These charming, beautifully written books will have you laughing one minute, holding back tears the next, and finally reaching for your saucepan.

Awarded the HarperCollins Authonomy 'Gold Star'.

HarperCollins wrote: ‘laugh-out-loud funny...especially the Spanish women heckling over eggs from “The English”...hilarious...engaging... the interspersion of recipes is charming’.

Karen Wheeler, author of 'Tout Sweet: Hanging Up My Heels For A New Life In France' wrote: “Andalucía as it’s never been done before - a very quirky, funny and enjoyable tale - loved the subtle humour, Olé!”

Justin Aldridge, Eye on Spain, wrote: "I absolutely loved it! Funny, honest and impossible to put down."

Friends in High Places

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Description

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES At barely nineteen, Angelica Donovan became one of the more successful winners of the T.V. show Our Next Super Model. The world assumed she was destined for a happy, fairy tale life as ‘Angel,’ the beautiful girl who was living the dream; sadly, that wasn’t to be the case. As the years passed, she flashed her million dollar smile to all her fans and fought to stay on top in a profession where you never knew who it was safe to trust while the fashion industry took big bites out of her heart and soul. And trust was a constant challenge for Angel due to the painful childhood secret she guarded as carefully as she did her heart. As a result, she never did find her true love on earth. When she wakes up ‘dead’ from a heart condition a month before her thirty-fifth birthday, Angel is at first relieved to find there is no death, just a change of state, like ice to water, and then she’s scared because her biggest and most important adventure is about to begin. Angelica is chosen to be an angel in training as a spirit guide for three souls on earth! Her assignment is to help two women to gain the courage and confidence to find, recognize and embrace the love that had eluded Angel in life. But her biggest challenge will be to save a very special little girl from the same evil experience that had poisoned Angel’s own earthly happiness and altered the course of her life. Will Angel be able to heal her own shattered soul in the process? And will the three souls she is guiding be able to recognize her, not as a ghostly threat, but as one of those ‘friends in high places’ we all have; the kind who often end up earning their wings.

Story Behind The Book

How ‘Chickens’ Was Hatched. I’m famous for my lists and records. I can’t help myself; I think I inherited the record-keeping gene from my father. Every day I make a note of the weather, the temperature, the first snowdrop, the day the ants fly, the exchange rate of the euro, everything. I make packing lists, holiday lists, ‘To Do’ lists and ‘Joe, Will You Please’ lists. I even make lists of lists. My nickname at work was Schindler. Also, I have terrible difficulty throwing anything away. I find my heart racing and my fingers clamp possessively on the object in question. After all, a rusty hostess trolley, or broken watch, or a 1996 calendar, or whatever, may come in useful some day… So I rarely delete old emails and have diaries dating back years. Both these dubious character traits of mine, for a pleasant change, proved really useful and helped ‘Chickens’ to hatch. Moving to Spain was undeniably a culture shock. Every new day produced events either hilarious or heart-warming. Food suddenly tasted better, human behaviour was more fascinating, local events more interesting. It was like seeing in colour for the first time, and the book began bubbling in my head. Of course, Joe often lost patience with me, and rightly so. ‘Stop dreaming, and concentrate! Hold that ladder steady or I’m going to break a leg in a minute!’ But the book was relentless. As soon as I could, I unearthed all my records, notes, old emails to friends, and began to write. It’s funny where life takes you… When I was a little girl and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered, ‘A zoo-keeper.’ No, I never realised that ambition, but life in Spain has not been that far removed. Okay, I agree, chickens, mules and all the other animals (including humans) I wrote about may not be very exotic. But their behaviour was just as riveting as that of any grizzly bear or meerkat. As I wrote, the book made me laugh and cry. When, reluctantly, I showed it to other people, I was astonished to see them react the same way. One may easily imagine my delight when ‘Chickens’ was awarded the HarperCollins Authonomy ‘Gold Star’, and is still today the only non-fiction book to claim that distinction. I love Spain. I love the Spanish people. I love Spanish food. I hope all this shines through in my writing, even when I’m describing some of the less savoury things that happened to us. Victoria Twead

Media Links

Who is Victoria Twead?

🔗 http://www.squidoo.com/victoriatwead

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Press Release

🔗 http://www.prlog.org/10273953-hilarious-pageturner-released-chickens-mules-and-two-old-fools-awarded-harpercollins-gold-star.html

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Guest Blog 'A Day in the Life of an Old Fool up a Spanish Mountain'

🔗 http://www.prlog.org/10273953-hilarious-pageturner-released-chickens-mules-and-two-old-fools-awarded-harpercollins-gold-star.html

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Spanish tapas recipes from the book

🔗 http://www.squidoo.com/SpanishTapas

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Indalo - The Rainbow Man

🔗 http://www.squidoo.com/rainbowman

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The Magic Cooking Pot - the Cazuela

🔗 http://www.squidoo.com/cazuela

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Victoria's Top Ten Reasons to be Cheerful

🔗 http://www.squidoo.com/10reasons

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Reviews

HarperCollins wrote: ‘laugh-out-loud funny...especially the Spanish women heckling over eggs from “The English”...hilarious...engaging...the interspersion of recipes is charming’ Lucy Fox, author of The Keeper of the Enchanted Pool wrote: ‘Oh, I love it! It’s one of the funniest things I have read in a long while. It reminds me a lot of one of Billy Hopkins’ books. Your recollections of everything that happens on your venture into a new life are brilliant and extremely well told. The people you met were real characters, especially Dick and Dale. And the trotter, how could you have done that to your poor husband! Evil, but hilariously priceless.’ Danny Gillan, author of ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ wrote: 'I love the relaxed writing style and easy humour of this. Great stuff!' Robin Bayley, author of ‘The Mango Orchard’ wrote: ‘Victoria Twead is a natural storyteller with a knack for charm and wit.’ Aleck Loker author of 18 books including ‘Ancient Explorers of America’ wrote: 'This is wonderful. I have tears in my eyes...the humor, the warmth, the joy...I love this book...the two of you sitting on the sofa in that dusty street listening to Spanish tunes on the crackly radio. What a sight you must have been...'

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