I wrote a book!

Writing a book is really hard, and it's a very lonely process. Today, AI can help you put content together quickly, but when I was writing my book, that wasn’t an option. I created it from a stack of notes, souvenirs, reminders, and diary entries I had collected while working as a fashion assistant in London. It was a time before I started this website and before I embarked on my spiritual awakening journey.

The actual writing took one year. I began during the coronavirus pandemic, quite literally at the start of lockdown, when I felt forced to move back to my parents’ house. I found a poorly paid online English teaching job that kept me in front of my computer screen for 16 hours a week. And when I wasn’t teaching, I was writing—immersed in deep thoughts, with occasional tears and laughter.

I wrote everywhere: at my desk, on the floor, on a sun chair in the garden, in Airbnbs, on a terrace, even on a rooftop—across three countries: Hungary, Spain, and Malta. When the pandemic hit, I knew it was time to sit down and just do it. Writing The Fashion Assistant had been at the back of my mind for years before 2020, but I had allowed life to take me down side roads of discovery, guided by my curiosity for life and travel.

Here’s what I learned about writing a book:

When you think it’s ready, it's still not ready. It can take years before it truly is—until you find the right people to collaborate with on editing and design. Unless you have the budget to pay for professional services, you need to be resourceful: relying on people you know, adapting to their schedules and timelines.

Even then, the work doesn’t stop. You have to read your manuscript again and again, refining it until every line feels aesthetically and grammatically right—for both print and eBook. By the time the book is finally ready, you’re often so exhausted by it that you can’t even enjoy the finished product. That’s when you need to step away.

After taking enough time off, you come back to it one last time before approving it for print and publication. And eventually, holding the physical copy of years’ worth of work in your hands feels almost like holding your own baby after giving birth. Yes—this is my baby. My creation. My legacy.

And I have to say… never again will I write another book on my own, lol.

Bold, honest, and deeply human, this memoir is for anyone who has ever chased a dream, questioned it, and found themselves transformed in the process.

What is The Fashion Assistant about?

The Fashion Assistant is a raw, witty, and unfiltered memoir about chasing my dream—and discovering it isn’t what I thought it was. Told through sharp, honest diary entries, the book follows my life navigating London’s fashion industry, starting on the edge of homelessness and working my way up to becoming the personal assistant of a top British fashion designer. I chased the dream hard. I lived it. And then I wrote about it.

I didn’t write this book to romanticise the fashion industry—I wrote it to tell the truth. It's unapologetically real with vivid details and humour.​ No filters. No gloss. Just the chaos, the hustle, the illusions of “making it”—and what it actually costs. The kind of story you don’t just read, you step into. You’ll sit with me in freezing studios, backstage at shows, in tiny rooms with big dreams, and in moments where everything looks like success from the outside—but feels very different on the inside. Because this was never just about fashion. It was about power. Identity. Self-worth. It was about overcoming challenges, choosing growth over safety, and finding the courage to be authentic. And the moment you realise you don’t need a title, a brand, or anyone’s approval to know your value.​ This isn’t just a story about chasing a dream. It’s about outgrowing it.

If you'd like a copy, follow the instructions in my webshop HERE

Alternatively, you can purchase the print or eBook version through distributors such as Amazon, Goodreads, Foyles, Everand, and other online retailers. Simply search for "Zsofi N Peto The Fashion Assistant book" to find a suitable distributor in your country.