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The Bolter by Frances Osborne
The other major thing I did this weekend (as I had to work Saturday at the ref desk) was to read The Bolter
(Powell's link). This is a biography of Idina Sackville*, one of the fastest members of a very fast set** in the first half of the 20th century, written by her great-granddaughter.
There are two perfectly good reviews of the book at Scandalous Women and Jezebel, so I won't bother to do much of that here. This is a book about the British upper class, and deals with the colonial presence in East Africa from the point of view of the British, especially the British Behaving Badly - if you want a book that examines class and race distinction and consciousness at the time, this is not the book you're looking for.***
Idina tends to bolt from each husband, often with her next in tow, directly to Kenya over and over again, where she builds two farms over the course of her life, and along with the Happy Valley Set, as her friends and co-partiers were known, merrily scandalizes everyone, including the British colonial government. Osborne casts Idina's life and actions as a search for stable, lasting love and attention, something very hard to find in such a society as she ran in.
I enjoyed this book a lot. Osborne chronicles the decadence of the sets Idina ran in without wallowing in it, and turns Idina into a reasonably sympathetic character, especially with her love for East Africa.****
What the book also does is give tantalizing introductions to other strong, interesting women who have some sort of connection to Idina's life. Her great-grandmother wrote several books about her and her family's travels around the world on the luxury yacht Sunbeam and others - several of which you can get through Google Books and one at Project Gutenberg. Her mother Muriel Brassey De La Warr, a child during these voyages, was active in the suffrage movement.
So, as I'm getting tired of looking up all these links, I shall stop writing and post. Recommended if you've got an interest in women who reject social norms, the British upper crust of the day, or scandal.
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* We shall pause for a moment to get all the "Sackville-Baggins" jokes out of your system.
** Think Paris Hilton fast.
*** Although I think it might offer an interesting comparison with such a book.
**** Something I am overly sympathetic with, having lived in Tanzania as a child.
(Powell's link). This is a biography of Idina Sackville*, one of the fastest members of a very fast set** in the first half of the 20th century, written by her great-granddaughter.There are two perfectly good reviews of the book at Scandalous Women and Jezebel, so I won't bother to do much of that here. This is a book about the British upper class, and deals with the colonial presence in East Africa from the point of view of the British, especially the British Behaving Badly - if you want a book that examines class and race distinction and consciousness at the time, this is not the book you're looking for.***
Idina tends to bolt from each husband, often with her next in tow, directly to Kenya over and over again, where she builds two farms over the course of her life, and along with the Happy Valley Set, as her friends and co-partiers were known, merrily scandalizes everyone, including the British colonial government. Osborne casts Idina's life and actions as a search for stable, lasting love and attention, something very hard to find in such a society as she ran in.
I enjoyed this book a lot. Osborne chronicles the decadence of the sets Idina ran in without wallowing in it, and turns Idina into a reasonably sympathetic character, especially with her love for East Africa.****
What the book also does is give tantalizing introductions to other strong, interesting women who have some sort of connection to Idina's life. Her great-grandmother wrote several books about her and her family's travels around the world on the luxury yacht Sunbeam and others - several of which you can get through Google Books and one at Project Gutenberg. Her mother Muriel Brassey De La Warr, a child during these voyages, was active in the suffrage movement.
So, as I'm getting tired of looking up all these links, I shall stop writing and post. Recommended if you've got an interest in women who reject social norms, the British upper crust of the day, or scandal.
--
* We shall pause for a moment to get all the "Sackville-Baggins" jokes out of your system.
** Think Paris Hilton fast.
*** Although I think it might offer an interesting comparison with such a book.
**** Something I am overly sympathetic with, having lived in Tanzania as a child.
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This sounds like a wonderful book; I must hunt it up.
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Something I forgot to put in the writeup, which was funny: in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the accepted time for discreet extramarital encounters was between 4 and 7 PM - because the women's clothes of the day were so complicated! The lady's maid would come in at 4 to get her mistress out of her afternoon tea dress, and would return at 7 to get her into her evening dress. Hence the window of opportunity. :D
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Ah, so that's what Afternoon Gowns were about...
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Mitfords are like popcorn; you will probably also like Hons and Rebels.