A Painter’s Palate

Food, art and life combine in a lavishly-illustrated book about Turkish cuisine, Turkish village life - and the will to survive a frightening diagnosis.

In July 2019, painter and art teacher Eljay Dickins was diagnosed with a Grade 4 inoperable malignant glioblastoma brain tumour. Sufferers have a 1 in 12 chance of surviving six months. Early diagnosis, radio- and chemotherapy, together with a determination that somehow she wouldn't be crushed by it, helped save her life.

Published three and a half years later, A Painter's Palate is a result of that dogged drive to live. As a creative person, Eljay responded to her diagnosis her own way - through her rich and vibrant paintings (a selection of which are included in the book) and through writing, drawing upon her years running painting holidays in an old stone house near the Aegean in Turkey.

Funny and often touching, the book brings together over 180 recipes of authentic Turkish daily family fare with vivid descriptions of her life as an Englishwoman in Turkey, of the people she met and the food she cooked while she was there.

A Painter's Palate is a lighthearted, uplifting and inspirational tale of village life and local food, infused with Eljay's ever-positive attitude, irreverent sense of humour and hope for the future against seemingly insurmountable odds.