Home economics book series in reading order

Mary Berry is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter, born on 24 March 1935. Berry trained in catering at college and went to France at 22 to attend Le Cordon Bleu. The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook (1970) was the first Mary Berry book, and the Baking Bible followed in 2009 among more than 75 cookery titles. Berry has presented television series for the BBC and Thames Television. The catalogue opens with Mary Berry's Cookbook (1970) and covers baking, cakes, desserts, freezer cooking and make-ahead cooking, with titles such as Popular Freezer Cookery (1972) and Family Cooking (1978).

Nigel Slater is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster, born in 1956. Quick cooking is his signature subject: Real Fast Food (1992), Real Fast Desserts (1993), The 30-Minute Cook (1994) and 30-minute Suppers (1996) all work that ground, with Real Cooking (1997) and Real Good Food (1997) after them. Slater wrote for Marie Claire for five years before moving to The Observer Magazine, where his column has run for more than a decade, and he is the principal writer for Observer Food Monthly. His 27 catalogued books reach A Thousand Feasts (2024), at a median of 288 pages.

Wanda E. Brunstetter writes Amish romance and has sold more than 10 million books, with titles on the New York Times Best Seller list; Brunstetter is based in Washington. The catalogue lists 125 books from A Merry Heart (1997) to A Castle of Sand (2026). Series include Brides Of Lancaster County, Brides Of Webster County, Brides Of Lehigh Canal, Daughters Of Lancaster County, Sisters Of Holmes County, Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club, Amish Millionaire, Creektown Discoveries and Rachel Yoder: Always Trouble Somewhere. Subjects include Amish women and children, Pennsylvania and Amish cooking.

Susan Branch is an American author, watercolourist and designer who illustrates her own books. Heart of the Home is the cookbook series Branch is known for, and the 44 catalogued titles also take in memoirs, guided journals, travel writing and keepsake books. The run opens with Heart of the Home (1986) and reaches Distilled Genius - A Collection of Life-Changing Quotations (2022), at a median 80 pages. Cooking, entertaining, home economics and Christmas recur as subjects. No new title has appeared since 2022.

Jamie Oliver

40 books• 1 series

Jamie Oliver is an English chef and restaurateur whose 40 catalogued books are mostly cookbooks. The Naked Chef (1999) accompanied the BBC Two series of the same name that ran to 2001, and Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie's Dinners and Jamie's Italy extend a run reaching Eat Yourself Healthy (2025). Oliver started the Feed Me Better campaign in 2005 to put healthier food into schools, and the government later backed it; the first Jamie's Italian restaurant opened in 2008. Oliver has also written the children's series Billy and the Giant Adventure.

Prue Leith, born Prudence Margaret Leith on 18 February 1940, is a South African and British restaurateur, chef, cookery writer, novelist and broadcaster. Leith judged BBC Two's Great British Menu from 2005 to 2016, then replaced Mary Berry as a judge on The Great British Bake Off in 2017 after the show moved to Channel 4, staying until 2025. Leith was also Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, from 2016 to 2024. The catalogue lists 42 books from Leith's All Party Cookbook (1972) to Being Old...and learning to love it! (2026), including Leith's Cookery Bible and the Angelotti Chronicles novels. Paul Hollywood shares credit on 2 of the books.