21 MARCH 1987, Page 25

Lay off

Sir: Do you think your lot could now lay off laying into Entertaining with Style by me and my co-author Polly Tyrer? For Nigella Lawson (Restaurant, 3 January) to have a go is nearly fair, though why she wastes her whole column on a book which is obviously not for her I cannot think, but for Alice Thomas Ellis (Home Life, 7 February) to use it as a means of plugging her own `cheat-and-slut's' (her words) book is a bit much. Entertaining with Style is for people who like cooking and parties and want to do things well. And, as we make perfectly clear, you are not expected to go out and buy pink satin sheets for an aphrodisiac dinner, or to dig a pit in a field for a hog-bake. The book describes possi- ble parties for enthusiastic party-givers, and why not? It has sold over 7,000 copies since publication at a price of £14.95, so it looks, I'm pleased to say, as if the general public don't share the toffee-nosed attitude of your columnists.

Prue Leith

94 Kensington Park Road, London W11