“I read Free Spirit all in one go as I literally couldn’t put it down.Tanya Sarne’s courage and resilience are utterly awe-inspiring.You could read no better book than this on the zeitgeist of London and Hollywood in the Sixties and Seventies and the fashion world of the Eighties and Nineties.” – Joanna Lumley
“Wherever it was at, Tanya seemed to be. This is an honest, amusing depiction of life as founder of Ghost, the British fashion brand much loved by woman of all shapes and ages. As well as navigating life through the Sixties and onwards, here is a story of a woman boss juggling motherhood, marriage, romance and every other thread of life’s rich tapestry.” – Alexandra Shulman
“Tanya Sarne’s Ghost very quickly became the show that all the girls wanted to do – Kate Moss, Helena Christensen, Naomi Campbell, etc. It was really incredible casting and the girls LOVED the clothes. The party after the show was the ‘party of the week’ – she put a great crowd together and everyone turned up. You just wanted to be part of Tanya’s gang because she’s magnetic, kind and really funny.” – Sam McKnight
“Sarne’s new memoir, Free Spirit, is a real-life picaresque novel that takes our heroine, nee Tanya Gordon, from London in the final days of the Second World War to Hollywood and from innocence to experience; from being a lonely housewife then a single mother to the boss of a fashion label worn by superstars and supermodels.” – The Glasgow Herald
”Inspiring, intelligent, brave, plain spoken and wild, Tanya Sarne’s memoir tells the story of a woman who is tirelessly optimistic, brilliantly pragmatic and fiercely true to herself. At once a fighter and a dreamer, she has overcome the challenges her personal and professional life have thrown at her with extraordinary tenacity, humour and grace.” – Susannah Frankel
“If there’s a woman out there who doesn’t have an old Ghost dress hanging in her wardrobe, can you please tell me exactly what you were wearing in the nineties?” – Alyson Walsh @thatsnotmyage
Free Spirit tells the extraordinary life story of Tanya Sarne and her triumphs, setbacks and survival.
Hers is a tale of resilience, of second and third chances and of global fashion success as the founder of Ghost, with a fanbase described by Marie Claire in the Nineties as ‘bigger than the Spice Girls’.
Tanya’s story is so much more than simply an account of incredible international fashion success (and excess). The only child of refugee parents, her life ranged from the London of the Swinging Sixties to the glamour and darkness of Hollywood in the early Seventies, to virtual destitution and abandonment with two small children in a Brazilian fishing village – all before she even dreamt of starting her own business … or becoming one of the inspirations (with her daughter and Lynne Franks) for Absolutel
