After Girls’ Night In, and Girls’ Night Out – Boys’ Night In, it had to be Big Night Out, and it is – just in time for summer. Try cocktails with Julian Clary and hangover tips from Jamie Oliver along with the short stories!
About The Book:
Big Night Out was in the Top 10 Paperback Fast Seller list in The Times on its release in England, and followed suit in Australia, after its release on October 1. A special launch party in Sydney saw contributors Tara Moss, Reg Mombassa, Libbi Gorr and Natasha Stott-Despoja celebrate the down-under publication of the book, and in Melbourne, Richard Stubbs followed suit. War Child Australia’s first aid worker, Jo Francis, was also a special guest at the Melbourne launch, where Chairman and Big Night Out co-editor Nick Earls joined in the farewells – Jo is bound for War Child’s bakery project in Afghanistan.
Editors
From left: Nick Earls, Imogen Edwards-Jones, Jessica Adams, Maggie Alderson
Excerpt:
I had my first serious doubts about Ricky when I saw him crouched on the kitchen floor blowtorching cockroaches with the gas lighter.’What are you doing?’ I asked, remembering terrible images of American soldiers and Vietnamese children. ‘I thought you were making another cake.”I am. It’s in the oven. Now I’m having fun,’ he said, blasting another spout of flame at the desperately wriggling insects… I woke suddenly to the sensation of something very cold being placed on my bare stomach. It was Ricky with a lavish cocktail, the rim of the glass crusted with pink sugar, with chunks of pineapple and maraschino cherries pushed onto a plastic stick shaped like a flamingo, the whole lot topped off with an umbrella and a couple of frangipanis.’It’s a cockroach daiquiri,’ he said, flashing the white teeth that reminded me once again why my friend Dominic was so obsessed with him. ‘Toasted.’
From The Master Baker by Maggie Alderson, Big Night Out (UK)
Publisher:
HarperCollins England
Penguin Australia
Reviews:
“First there was Girls’ Night In, then there was Girls’ Night Out/Boys’ Night In, and now there’s this, the third in a series of books compiled in aid of War Child. Authors Nick Hornby, Marian Keyes and Candace Bushnell appear alongside celebrities like Kate Moss, Jamie Theakston and Julian Clary. There are musicians (Bob Geldof, Boy George), comedians (Steve Coogan, Armstrong and Miller), chefs (Gordon Ramsey), even a white witch (Titania Hardie). Jamie Oliver donates his Hangover Breakfast recipe, Joan Collins relates her Never Fail Party Beauty Tips and others choose top ten songs for big nights out. Then of course there are the short stories. There’s hardly a dud here, but we particularly liked Nick Earls’ romantic Cabin Baggage, Maggie Alderson’s compelling The Master Baker and Heat astrologer Adele Lang’s celebrity satire Don’t You Know Who I Am? A superb book, which lends you all the inspiration you need to don those kitten heels, down some cocktails and party along to some top quality tunes.”
PAIGE SCHUPPAN, HEAT MAGAZINE
“The third in the incredibly successful “Night Out” series of short stories by contemporary writers kicks off with hot party tips from Joan Collins (wear red lipstick and eat beforehand) and ends with a hangover cure from Jamie Oliver. In between these extremes of anticipation and regret is a complex mix of novelists.”
MARIE CLAIRE
“A special collection of short stories by some of the starriest names in the worlds of literature and fashion, including Nick Hornby, Candace Bushnell, Kate Moss, Alan Rickman and Bob Geldof. Read all about it.”
VOGUE
