Prue Leith, restaurateur, food writer and romance novelist, lives in London. She grew up in Johannesburg's northern suburbs, the daughter of South African actress and director, Margaret Inglis. She attended St. Mary's Convent and went on to UCT where she drifted between the Darama, Art and Architecture departments, ending up with a B.A. in French. A stint as au pair and waitress in Paris followed, where she also took classes at the Sorbonne. Prue moved to London and enrolled in a cordon bleu course for a year.
After graduation, she spent 3 days a week preparing lunches at a law firm, and the rest of the time trying to get catering jobs. While holidaying in Rome, her grandmother's rings were stolen. With the insurance money, Prue bought a panel van and criss-crossed London catering. In 1993 she sold the business, with a staff of 500. In 1975 she married author Rayne Kruger. In 1969 the restaurant Leith's opened in Notting Hill Gate, followed by Leith's School of Food and Wine in 1975. Prue was approached by the Daily Mail to ghost write Lady Elizabeth Anson's weekly cooking column, but she convinced them to alternate with her real name every other week. Her first recipe book, Leith's All Party Cookbook, soon followed.
In the 1990s, she sold her cooking businesses and concentrated on writing. Her first novel, Sisters, was published in November 2002. It was about two sisters who grew up on a South African farm but moved to England when their mother became ill. Leaving Patrick and A Lovesome Thing followed. Her next novel is in the works. Prue and Rayne adopted a daughter, Li-Da, from Cambodia. She's a film maker and their son, Sam, is a journalist. Rayne died in 2002.
