Hippy Dinners: A memoir of a rural childhood

by Abbie Ross

In 1972 Abbie Ross’s cosmopolitan parents move the family from London to rural North Wales, exchanging a town house in Islington for a remote farmhouse on a hill. Abbie’s Liverpudlian grandparents – dedicated followers of Liberace, sleek in scented mohair and patent leather – are sure they’ve lost their minds. For Abbie, though, the only cloud on the horizon is the nearby hippy commune and its inhabitants. There are worrying signs that this is the sort of ‘better life’ that her parents have in mind.Brilliantly evoking a particular time and place, Abbie’s memoir re-creates a world of dens and pineapple chunks, of John Craven’s Newsround and fishing for sticklebacks – and the joy but also the burning powerlessness of being a child. Disgusted by her father’s ‘yogic flying’ and her mother’s taste for brown bread and billowing cheesecloth (with no bra), Abbie is desperate not to be different. Far better, she thinks, to fit in with shouting, pathologically nosy Sara across the fields,or stay close to Philip next door – paralysingly shy and with a preference for orange food and no trousers (‘nice to have a bit of air’) ...Rich with detail that reveals a whole world, Hippy Dinners is very funny and full of heart. It is also a delicate and astute portrait of the brutal realities of ‘a simple life’.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Memoir

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2014

Reviews

[Vicky "phenkos"]

I came to really like this book -- although it initially left me cold. I think that was because the very first chapter was about little Abs' wish for a more conventional upbringing, and I just couldn't relate to that. But then I guess I was reading the book through adult eyes, which didn't do justice to it. As I read on, I got drawn into Abs' world, and remembered how embarrassed I had felt at my parents and what they did -- although in my case it was the other way round, they were far too conventional rather than 'hippy' or 'alternative'.

[Mousy Brown]

If you grew up in the 70's, especially if you lived in the country, this book will bring the memories flooding back. It's a wonderful mixture of stories, told from the perspective of the author as a child and I relived many similar moments in my childhood as I read them. I was able to feel all the distrust and horror of the bizarre things adults did (especially 1970's vaguely hippy parents) whilst also experiencing huge amounts of sympathy for them from my present position as a parent myself (possibly a rather hippy one at that!) I laughed out loud on many occasions and would recommend this book wholeheartedly to any 40 something's who want to reminisce, or to any of their kids who want to know why their parents ended up the way they did!

[Nicola Sarosh]

Funny, warm and leaving you unable to put this book down, Hippy Dinners is a must-read. Told through the eyes of Abbie Ross as a child, she captures each character in a warm, yet hilariously funny way. Her innocence and determination to understand the grown-up world around her is a joy to read. Beautifully written and thoroughly entertaining.

[Darren Dubicki]

Heart-warming & laugh out loud... Hippy Dinners perfectly reflects childhood uncertainty in a vivid yet ordinary world. Gloriously funny.

[Joanne Lidford]

My kind of book, loved it.

[Debbie]

Enjoyed this book very much. Could relate to the story quite a lot. Remembering the 70's and growing up in Wales. Looking forward to Abbie Ross's novel.

[Phil]

I really liked the start of this book, which opens with Abbie's parents preparing for a visit from her grandparents. The children can understand why all the ornaments and knick knacks from Nanna and Poppa are packed away 'for safekeeping' until the visit, but they are puzzled as to why their natural-fabric-loving mother doesn't sound happier with Nanna's gift to her - fashionable nylon trousers. The contrast between what the children understand from their parents and grandparents behaviour and what is really going on is very funny.

If this had been written as a magazine article, it would have worked well, but as a book, it becomes tedious and repetitive. I don't need to be told more than once that the children would prefer ready meals to home-cooked organic health food, or that they are embarrassed at their mother gardening in her underwear or that they are worried their parents will end up moving them all into the local hippy commune. Abbie's schoolfriends are also very one-dimensional, every person having a single characteristic: Glamorous Lisa, verbally abusive Sara, Phillip who has panic attacks, Rhys who is the school 'bad boy'... By the halfway mark, I was so bored with the repetitions that I found myself skim-reading just to get to the end.

[Alice]

A lovely, heartfelt memoir from Abbie Ross' childhood full of stories of rural Wales, the teachers, parents and adult world that overshadows all memories with a hint of hippy thrown in for good measure. A great holiday read particularly if you're going to camp in Wales!

[Ginni]

This was good fun, and a light read - a child’s eye view of the ‘alternative society’ of the 70s, specifically as it happened in a North Wales Village. An accurate view of how children view the mysterious goings on of adults, and also how very conventional the children tend to be.

[Julie Hudson]

Loved this book, so evocative of the era. If you weren't a kid in the UK in the 70s you may not appreciate it quite as much but I didn't want it to end!

[Jane]

Loved it

[Wendy]

Lovely nostalgic memoir. I recognised some of the character types, the memories, the insecurities of being that age. Very readable and I was sad when it ended.

[Catherine Boardman]

Way back in 1972 when Abbie Ross was two, her parents upped sticks and moved from metropolitan Islington to rural North Wales in search of a better life. Spring forward five years and this memoir begins with a vivid description of the impending visit of splendidly groomed and determinedly suburban Grandparents. The children eagerly anticipate presents and sweet treats that are usually banned, whilst the parents rush round getting out previous gifts that have languished in cupboards since the last visit. You can feel the Grandparental disapproval of career, home décor and fashion choices being met with exasperation from Abbie’s parents. These passages are the book’s best.

Hippies; in popular imagination rural Wales was awash with them in the 70’s. Colonies of teepees and communes around every corner. Whilst this maybe a vast exaggeration, there were some folk seeking an alternative lifestyle. These exotic creatures aroused interest and distrust in equal measure from the locals. Abbie’s parents, although not hippies, were friends with some of them as fellow incomers. Like all children she just wanted to fit in and would hang back from such alliances.

Elsewhere we meet Abbie’s friends who live as nearby as country neighbours get, down lanes and across fields. I too grew up in the country, the child of parents who had moved in. Mine was an East Anglian childhood and about a decade earlier than this book is set but many of the details ring true. This was the downfall of the book for me. I have many happy childhood memories of playing on friends’ farms and generally roaming wild but I prefer reading matter that takes me somewhere new.

DISCLOSURE: I was sent a copy of this book by Penguin as part of the BritMum’s Book Club.

[Penny]

3.5, not quite a 4
Nicely written childhood memoir. Abbie Ross and her sister move with their parents from London to the Welsh hills. It's an area popular with people seeking an alternative lifestyle and Abbie lives in constant dread that her parents will turn into hippies.
Like children everywhere she just wants her parents to be like everyone else's and to not be, in any way, 'strange'.
My favourite parts were where they were visited by their paternal grandparents who cannot comprehend the lifestyle chosen by their son.
I thought the book petered out a little towards the last third - it didn't flow like the earlier parts and the school scenes read more like a novel than a memoir. However, overall it was an enjoyable read which made me laugh and often reminded me of my own early years at school.

[Cheryl]

There's a widespread belief that we all have a book in us waiting to be written and, although I didn't have the same delightfully eccentric neighbours and bucolic setting as Abbie, I think mine would look a lot like Hippy Dinners. It's an amusing and enjoyable trip down memory lane for anyone who was growing up in the seventies in the UK, even if it wasn't on a Welsh mountainside !

(full review on my blog : http://madhousefamilyreviews.blogspot...)

[Marie (UK)]

Honestly this was rubbish. how anyone can give this more than 1 star beggars belief. Who cares about this girl and her life in Wales and certainly Abbie ross does not make us care about her. I cannot in all honesty give it any stars at all, I only finished it because it was a dal life book club read

[Carol]

Awful

[Esther]

An amusing easy read, perfect for a long plane journey. I loved the contrast between her hippy parents and paternal grandparents for whom Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis were more ideal role models.

[Harriet]

A joy from the first page to the last.