How to Cook Your Daughter: A Memoir - Hardcover

Hendra, Jessica; Blake Morrison

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060820993 ISBN 13: 9780060820992

Publisher: Harper, 2005

Synopsis

From the daughter of the bestselling author of Father Joe: the poignant and ultimately hopeful memoir of a young girl’s struggle to live a normal childhood in the chaotic seventies, and to overcome sexual abuse by her famous father

Earlier this year, Tony Hendra’s memoir, Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul, spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The book detailed his life as a comedian who launched the careers of John Belushi and Chevy Chase and helped create such cult classics as This Is Spinal Tap, while he struggled with inner demons including alcohol and drug abuse. But there was a glaring omission in his supposed tell-all confessional: his sexual abuse of his daughter, Jessica Hendra, when she was a young girl.

After more than thirty years of silence, Hendra has decided to reveal the truth. In this poignant memoir, she reveals the full story behind the New York Times article that rocked the world and detailed her father’s crimes. But Jessica’s story is no footnote to her father’s story. No One Was Listening is also the inspiring story of her own journey, and how she was finally able to find healing within, after years of struggling with anorexia, bulimia, and low self-esteem. Set against the backdrop of the chaotic seventies, Hendra’s memoir follows Jessica and her sister Kathy as they strove to make a normal life for themselves amidst the madness, sex, and drug abuse that her parents and their friends―many of the household names in the world of show business―participated in. No One Was Listening reveals the hope and heartache of a young girl who was faced with a loss of innocence at an early age, who faced a slow and painful recovery, and who finally found contentment and peace within.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Her dad wrote bestseller Father Joe – but left out a few things. This is the poignant and ultimately hopeful memoir of a young girl's struggle to live a normal childhood in the '70s, and to overcome sexual abuse by her famous father.

Jessica Hendra wanted the truth to be told about her father after the publication of his supposedly confessional book, Father Joe (4.5k sold through BookScan). Her story about how he sexually abused her sent ripples of shock through the media.

Readers will see these days through the bewildered eyes of young Jessica and her sister, Kathy, who cowered while the parties went on and on, who couldn't believe that the white powder in the fridge was cocaine and not baking soda, who just wanted a normal life.

As a member of the inner circle of both the Monty Python group, an original editor of the National Lampoon, and the man who launched the careers of John Belushi and Chevy Chase, Tony Hendra was often surrounded by famous faces. Hendra mentions many moments of comedy and humour from her unique childhood. With insight, a sense of humour, and a beautifully earnest, sensitive voice, Hendra tells a story that too many readers can relate to – that of a young woman whose world spins out of control after someone she trusts sexually abuses her. Similar to books like The Little Prisoner

About the Author

Jessica Hendra lives with her husband and two daughters in Los Angeles, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060820993
• ISBN 13: 9780060820992
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288