Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Description

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.
 
Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.
 
From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

About the Author

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Ina Garten is a New York Times bestselling author, the host of Be My Guest and Barefoot Contessa on Food Network and Max, for which she has won five Emmy Awards and a James Beard Award. She lives in East Hampton, New York, with her husband, Jeffrey.

Praise For…

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“[Ina Garten] has created an inviting and relaxing world that’s the equivalent of one of her cocktail recipes. To use a Barefoot Contessa catchphrase, How great is that?”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)

“A freewheeling handbook for life . . . Be Ready When the Luck Happens is a romp, filled with adventure and serendipity, a magic act that makes the hard stuff of life seem like both education and play.”—The Washington Post

“Simplicity is at the core of [Ina Garten’s] appeal . . . her approachability, charisma and close connection to the sensibilities of the home cook have given her a devoted following.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Though a good deal of luck often came through for her along the way, Garten’s lively memoir emphasizes how hard work and unrelenting tenacity were what made the magic happen. An entertaining foray into this well-loved cooking host’s illustrious life.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Garten emphasizes the importance of doing what you love. Her story is a testament to the power of following one’s passion and the impact of hard work and dedication. . . . Whether you’re a longtime fan of the Barefoot Contessa or new to Garten’s work, this memoir is sure to leave you feeling inspired and ready to tackle your own dreams.”—Medium

“Be Ready When the Luck Happens is a wildly entertaining and compulsively readable story about curiosity and courage, challenges and coconut cupcakes. It’s also a love story for the ages. Smart and funny, warm and engaging, Ina Garten proves just how lucky a person can be if she’s willing to work hard, get over her past, and be fully and fearlessly engaged with life.”—Ann Patchett, author of Tom Lake