Free Spirit: A Memoir of an Extraordinary Life (Paperback) - Tanya Sarne

An extraordinary life story of success, setbacks and survival set in London's Swinging Sixties, the crazy, drug-fuelled Hollywood of the '70s and the New York/London fashion scene of the '80s and '90s by one of the real-life inspirations for Absolutely Fabulous .

"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

"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 Absolutely Fabulous.

From busking with Andrew Loog Oldham before he managed the Rolling Stones, to being invited to stay with Sharon Tate the night of the Manson murders, Tanya is one of those people who seems to have fitted more into one life than most of us would fit into nine. But, above all, she is that still all-too-rare thing, a female entrepreneur who achieved true global success solely as a result of her own hard work and talent and entirely on her own terms.

About the Author

Born in 1945 as an only child to refugee parents, Tanya Sarne spent the first two years of her life in a children's home while her parents searched for suitable accommodation. After leaving Sussex University in 1967 with a degree in History, early career choices included a stint as an actress, work as a fashion model and a script reader for Universal Films. In the mid-1970s, when her first marriage collapsed, she started selling alpaca jumpers from Peru to support her children. Thus began her involvement with fashion. She launched Ghost in 1984 and it became the 1990s' biggest independent fashion brand, famous for its outrageous parties and clothes that made women feel confident about themselves. The brand is now owned by Touker Suleyman.