Lulah Ellender

Reviews for Elisabeth's Lists:

Spectator Books of the Year 2018, chosen by Honor Clerk

'A perceptive and original book, it is as much a meditation on the meaning of lists as it is a biography' LRB

‘Poignant… a moving, evocative read’ ***** Sunday Express

‘This is a hauntingly beautiful meditation on life and death spanning three generations’ ***** Guardian

‘Fascinating as well as moving…The lists are a riveting piece of social history in their own right…this book, as well as being a meditation on the solace of list-keeping, is also a meditation on the good and the very bad things that run in families’ Daily Mail

'Powerful and enriching' **** Spectator

‘A story of vulnerability, resilience and love, quietly and beautifully told… Ellender researches, uncovers, interprets, comments and responds to the life of her grandmother with uninhibited insight… poigna[nt] and original… As she perseveres with a story that travels between past, present and future, it is Ellender’s own courage at confronting and living through these painful truths that makes her book so powerful and enriching’ **** Daily Express

‘Go to your "books to read" list and place Elisabeth’s Lists right at the top. It’s is charming without ever being whimsical and a vital voice as Elisabeth asserts her right to be more than simply a diplomat’s daughter or ambassador’s wife. A valuable historical record from a woman we are only now getting to know’ Damian Barr

'With great compassion and imagination, Elisabeth’s grand-daughter Lulah tenderly brings to life the grandmother she never knew' Elisa Segrave

Lulah is an author, copywriter and editor.

Her first book, Elisabeth's Lists, tells the story of her grandmother Elisabeth's life through a book of handwritten lists she left behind. Lulah weaves these fragments, together with snippets from letters and diaries and family legends, to recreate the extraordinary life of this woman she never knew.

Lulah's writing has appeared in The Guardian, YOU magazine, Granta magazine (online), Easy Living, Green Parent, The Junket and Sussex Life, amongst others. She lives with her husband, four children and various animals in East Sussex.

With speaking engagements on BBC Radio London and Glasgow's Aye Write Festival, Lulah has also appeared on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live, BBC Radio Scotland, ABC Australia and at the Birth of the Book event at Essex Book Festival. She has been writer-in-residence at Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris, Charleston Festival of the Garden and Wealden Literary Festival.