Emma Kennedy

A portrait of an extraordinarily complex mother told through letters to her daughter.

After her mother passed away and her father sold their home, Emma Kennedy’s family started to make peace with the complex woman who had been their mother, accepting they might never truly understand all of her complexities. Until they found the letters.

‘Letters from Brenda’ is about the discovery of those lost letters, and the impact they had. It’s about a childhood shrouded in shame, the lies Emma's mother told her family, the affairs she had, the madness that set in and how, despite everything, Brenda was still the most vibrant, multi-faceted person Emma has ever known.

As Emma comes to know her mother in a new light, she starts asking the questions none of them were allowed to ask growing up: what caused the darkness - and the light?

A revelatory book about overturning assumptions, seeing the past in a new light, and finding peace.

Emma Kennedy is a best-selling author and TV writer, actress and presenter. She has appeared in numerous comedies including ‘Goodness Gracious Me’, ‘The Smoking Room’ and ‘Miranda’.

She wrote the BBC TV adaptation ‘The Kennedys’ which won the Radio Times Comedy Champion Award and was based on her book ‘The Tent, The Bucket and Me’. She has also written for award-winning CBBC show Strange High Hill and Dangermouse. She won Celebrity Masterchef in 2012 and holds a Guinness World Record.

“Beautiful… insightful, fascinating and moving. It's a lovely LOVELY book”.
-Marian Keyes

“A beautiful, hilarious and bittersweet book”.
-Mel Giedroyc