Oh to live a day in the life of Theodora FitzGibbon, a model and actor who lived a glamorous life in Paris, London, Bermuda and Capri in the 1930s and 1940s before settling down to become The Irish Times cookery writer in later life.

Born into an eccentric Irish family – her mostly absent father taught her to smoke cigars and drink whiskey at 16. She lived in Paris the late 1930s, falling in love before having to flee the city by bicycle when Hitler invaded. Her early 20s found her in London, modelling by day, living in a series of apartments through the Blitz , while socialising with a bohemian set that included Dylan and Caitlin Thomas. Always cooking for a crowd she was inventive with whatever was available, be it a sheep's head or a horses's liver. Later she moved to Bermuda with her writer husband Constantine where they lived on their wits, fish and bananas. A Taste of Love is a reissue of two volumes of Theodora's autobiography published in 1991. It's published by Gill & MacMillan with an introduction by her former colleague, Rose Doyle. From the archive: an Easter recipe from Theodora Fitzgibbon on irishtimes.com/food&drink