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Gone with the Windsors
“[A] witty and un-catty insight into British pre-war high society, as Wally and Maybell rise and shine while the storm clouds gather over Europe.� —Independent A wicked comedy about the romance of the century � how Wallis Simpson caused the first, and greatest, royal scandal � from the best-selling author of The Future Homemakers of America When Maybell Brumby, frisky, wealthy, and recently widowed, quits Baltimore and arrives in London, she finds that her old school chum, Bessie Wallis Warfield, is there ahead of her. Impoverished and ambitious as ever, Wallis is on the make. Hampered by plodding husband number two, but armed with terrific bone structure and a few erotic tricks picked up in China, Wallis sets her sights on the most eligible bachelor in the the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. Maybell, with her deep pockets, makes the perfect ally, and her disarming dimness makes her the most delicious chronicler of the scandal that rocked a monarchy and changed the course of history. As fizzy as a freshly-popped bottle of champagne, Gone with the Windsors is a supremely clever bedtime reading for lovers of Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
66 people are currently reading
727 people want to read
About the author
Laurie Graham
46books135followersLaurie Graham was first published at the advanced age of 40. Gentle comedy is her style. She is the author of seventeen novels, including the best-selling The Future Homemakers of America and its sequel, The Early Birds
Mother of four, grandmother of many, Laurie is married to a New Yorker and lives in County Dublin, Ireland.
You can visit her website, read what she's up to and say hello at http://lauriegraham.com
Mother of four, grandmother of many, Laurie is married to a New Yorker and lives in County Dublin, Ireland.
You can visit her website, read what she's up to and say hello at http://lauriegraham.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 146 reviews
November 26, 2011
Rating Clarification: 3.5 Stars
I give author Laurie Graham a full five stars for re-creating the shallow, materialistic world of the 1930's jet-set, taking non-fictional pieces of information known to us and re-formatting them into a fictional (yet believable) diary account of the Edward/Wallis affair, and fleshing out a cast of humorous, exasperating, annoying or endearing characters. Supremely well done.
But the reason I ended up giving this book only 3.5 stars is because it's all just too much of a good thing. A little editing (OK, alot of editing) would have gone a long way in making this more of an enjoyable read for me personally. At times I felt like the book was getting longer and longer the more I read of it (clocking in at a very small-fonted 400+ pages, it seemed to never end). After a while, the sheer repetition of the diary entries exhausted me, even though I picked the book up in intermittent intervals between other reads. For the record, I'm not a huge fan of diary inspired literature, so this may have been part of the problem.
This is definitely one of those books where I applaud the effort, appreciate the talent and creativity, but am ultimately not blown away by the final result.
I give author Laurie Graham a full five stars for re-creating the shallow, materialistic world of the 1930's jet-set, taking non-fictional pieces of information known to us and re-formatting them into a fictional (yet believable) diary account of the Edward/Wallis affair, and fleshing out a cast of humorous, exasperating, annoying or endearing characters. Supremely well done.
But the reason I ended up giving this book only 3.5 stars is because it's all just too much of a good thing. A little editing (OK, alot of editing) would have gone a long way in making this more of an enjoyable read for me personally. At times I felt like the book was getting longer and longer the more I read of it (clocking in at a very small-fonted 400+ pages, it seemed to never end). After a while, the sheer repetition of the diary entries exhausted me, even though I picked the book up in intermittent intervals between other reads. For the record, I'm not a huge fan of diary inspired literature, so this may have been part of the problem.
This is definitely one of those books where I applaud the effort, appreciate the talent and creativity, but am ultimately not blown away by the final result.
September 30, 2022
is a brilliantly funny book by Laurie Graham that recreates London in the 1930s just before the Abdication and then its aftermath, populating her novel with a mix of historical figures and fictional characters (something I usually loathe).
She skewers the Windsors and the crowd of parvenus they attract and adds some delightful characters like her protagonist, Maybell, a wealthy, dim, social-climbing (fictional) childhood friend of Wallis's.
Graham must have read obsessively about the King and Mrs. Simpson because the level of detail is amazing (Fruity Metcalfe, anyone?) and probably not far from the truth.
By the time we got to their nouveaux riches pals, the Bajavidas (get it?), I was completely sold. Now I need to read her other novels!
Highly recommended.
She skewers the Windsors and the crowd of parvenus they attract and adds some delightful characters like her protagonist, Maybell, a wealthy, dim, social-climbing (fictional) childhood friend of Wallis's.
Graham must have read obsessively about the King and Mrs. Simpson because the level of detail is amazing (Fruity Metcalfe, anyone?) and probably not far from the truth.
By the time we got to their nouveaux riches pals, the Bajavidas (get it?), I was completely sold. Now I need to read her other novels!
Highly recommended.
November 15, 2022
I adored this book which is a fictionalized retelling of the love affair between HRH Prince of Wales ; Edward VIII, Duke Of Windsor and Wallis Simpson. This was way before even my time and I have no dog in the fight I am neither Team Wales nor Team York.
What makes this extra clever it is retold as the diary observances of a Baltimore Deb school mate of Wallis's. Back when girls weren't educated they very 'finished'
She is delightfully obtuse. And the book is clever.
What makes this extra clever it is retold as the diary observances of a Baltimore Deb school mate of Wallis's. Back when girls weren't educated they very 'finished'
She is delightfully obtuse. And the book is clever.
November 13, 2022
Удивительная книга во многих смыслах.
Представьте себе, что одноклассница и подружка юности Уоллис Симпсон внезапно встретилась с ней в Лондоне во времена знакомства с принцем Уэльским, возродила былую дружбу (присосались друг к другу как пиявки - более корректное описание этого события, наверное) и пробыла с ней вплоть до начала войны, ведя при этом подробнейший дневник. Вот это придумала Лори Грэм и спасибо ей большое.
Так вот, книга эта удивительно эффективно может пошатнуть все теплые чувства, испытываемые читателем к монархическому строю.
Удивительно не описывает ни единого приятного персонажа - абсолютно все мерзкие и глупые. Прямо как в жизни.
Удивительно долго запрягает. Настолько долго, что в определенный момент я ее бросила на пару месяцев.
Поэтому да, прибить хотелось всех. И еще неистово триггерило по поводу всего.
Вообще, оказалось, что довольно сложно слушать дневники персонажа, к которому не испытываешь ни единой позитивной эмоции. Но до финала я таки дослушала, а там как-то так внезапно оказалось, что эмоции испытываешь... то ли уже и к персонажу, то ли по поводу себя в завертевшемся историческом процессе - поди разбери.
Интересный опыт.
Представьте себе, что одноклассница и подружка юности Уоллис Симпсон внезапно встретилась с ней в Лондоне во времена знакомства с принцем Уэльским, возродила былую дружбу (присосались друг к другу как пиявки - более корректное описание этого события, наверное) и пробыла с ней вплоть до начала войны, ведя при этом подробнейший дневник. Вот это придумала Лори Грэм и спасибо ей большое.
Так вот, книга эта удивительно эффективно может пошатнуть все теплые чувства, испытываемые читателем к монархическому строю.
Удивительно не описывает ни единого приятного персонажа - абсолютно все мерзкие и глупые. Прямо как в жизни.
Удивительно долго запрягает. Настолько долго, что в определенный момент я ее бросила на пару месяцев.
Поэтому да, прибить хотелось всех. И еще неистово триггерило по поводу всего.
Вообще, оказалось, что довольно сложно слушать дневники персонажа, к которому не испытываешь ни единой позитивной эмоции. Но до финала я таки дослушала, а там как-то так внезапно оказалось, что эмоции испытываешь... то ли уже и к персонажу, то ли по поводу себя в завертевшемся историческом процессе - поди разбери.
Интересный опыт.
June 9, 2008
In premise, this was an interesting book. It's written as the diary of a wealthy American woman, Maybelle Brumby (not real), who is friends with Wallis Simpson (real) during Wally's courtship and early marriage to the Prince of Wales. The writing is sharp and funny, but after a while I tired of the diary entries--they were brief and the narrative just seemed to be one schtick after another. Plus Wally was such a b*tch I just kept wondering why the main character continued to be friends with her. If this book was half as long (it was over 400 pages) it would have been better. The premise just got tiresome after a while.
June 30, 2020
Maybelle Brumby, widowed Baltimore socialite, joins her sister, Violet in London in 1932. Violet has married into the minor British aristocracy, and Maybelle believes a change of scene following the death of her husband will be good for her. While there, she meets up with old school chum, Wallis Warfield (now Simpson) and the fun begins.
This book is a hoot! Written in diary form, Maybelle dishes about London society, taste in decor, fashion, the people she meets, her own family, the weather, and just about everything else. We see the Wallis Warfield Simpson/Duke of Windsor story from Maybelle's perspective, and it is pretty funny. Irreverent, biting, sarcastic, and fun, the writing style is just what one would expect from an American ex-pat in London.
This book is a hoot! Written in diary form, Maybelle dishes about London society, taste in decor, fashion, the people she meets, her own family, the weather, and just about everything else. We see the Wallis Warfield Simpson/Duke of Windsor story from Maybelle's perspective, and it is pretty funny. Irreverent, biting, sarcastic, and fun, the writing style is just what one would expect from an American ex-pat in London.
January 8, 2013
My love of the Duchess of Windsor remains undiminished, an achievement considering the hatchet thrown at her here. But let's face it, she had it coming, and more besides. This delight of a book says nothing shocking that hasn't already been said of Wally elsewhere, it just says so in a highly clever and original way. Detailing the abdication crisis via the diary of a fictional friend is SUCH a good idea I could nick the Fort Belvedere silverware in a jealous fury at not thinking of it first. In the days since reading Gone With the Windsors I've been trying to think of other historical personages/events I could apply the diary idea to myself. I've drawn a blank. But if there's any fairness I'll have reversed this calamity in a week. Laurie's inspired me. But the device is nothing without the actual diarist, and in this Laurie can laugh at all her pretenders because Maybell is every bit as vividly realised as Wally is. I loved Maybell. I was almost sad when she finally pulled herself away from Wally's selfish, ungrateful, sponging orbit. The fun ended. I read most of this thoroughly entertaining book sitting in a blow up pool during a four day heat wave. Occasionally I was even accompanied by wine. I was holidaying at home, but it was no less a holiday for it. Gone With the Windsors was the PERFECT book for my soujourn.
July 22, 2018
I feel like this was the Twilight Zone of books. No matter how much I read, I never seemed to get any further. Finally, at the 47% mark, I called it a day. I hate to DNF a book, but I just couldn't go any farther, especially when I already know the outcome of the story.
I love Royals and I find the Wallis Simpson/Edward VIII story fascinating. However this book just draaaaaggggggs. The story is told from the point of view of Wally's fictional friend, Maybell Brumby.
The book is made up entirely of Maybell's diary entries. I usually love books formatted this way because I tend to read them much more quickly, however this book fell flat.
Every entry is the vapid Maybell talking of lunches with these people, and drinks with those people, and VERY slowly paints a picture of how Wally and Edward came to be together. Maybell is extremely naive and it really started to get on my nerves how she just couldn't see Wally was using her.
Overall, I just can't recommend this book. The writing is fine, but the story is slow as molasses. If you're interested in reading about the story of Wallis and Edward, there are plenty of other options out there that tell the story much better.
I love Royals and I find the Wallis Simpson/Edward VIII story fascinating. However this book just draaaaaggggggs. The story is told from the point of view of Wally's fictional friend, Maybell Brumby.
The book is made up entirely of Maybell's diary entries. I usually love books formatted this way because I tend to read them much more quickly, however this book fell flat.
Every entry is the vapid Maybell talking of lunches with these people, and drinks with those people, and VERY slowly paints a picture of how Wally and Edward came to be together. Maybell is extremely naive and it really started to get on my nerves how she just couldn't see Wally was using her.
Overall, I just can't recommend this book. The writing is fine, but the story is slow as molasses. If you're interested in reading about the story of Wallis and Edward, there are plenty of other options out there that tell the story much better.
September 26, 2022
It is 1932, and Maybell Brumby - recently of Baltimore; now of London - sits down with her diary and proceeds to share her perceptions of all that is happening around her. Her staid family, and her upper-class friends, including her old schoolmate Bessie Wallis Warfield, and "Wally's" new conquest, the Prince of Wales. Maybell thinks she's a lot smarter than she really is, and that's where most of the humour of this novel is found. Her discovery that one of her friends has invited a "coal porter" to a soiree and her astonishment at his mixing of the classes (and at the musical talent of someone who makes his living portering coal), is just one of her many upper class twit moments.
I might have given this five stars, except that the action slows down quite a lot after "Wally and David" get married and Maybell becomes The Duchess's Lady in Waiting. The humor sort of drifts away and these people become pathetic, rather than amusing. A shame really, because up until that point, it's a hugely entertaining romp.
I might have given this five stars, except that the action slows down quite a lot after "Wally and David" get married and Maybell becomes The Duchess's Lady in Waiting. The humor sort of drifts away and these people become pathetic, rather than amusing. A shame really, because up until that point, it's a hugely entertaining romp.
December 22, 2008
Total brain candy. It seemed to drag on quite a bit especially after the Abdication. However, it was a very creative and interesting way to look at the Wallis Simpson/King Edward 'saga'. It certainly did not paint Wallis Simpson in a very positive light, which may be well deserved. Come to that, it didn't paint The Duke of Windsor in a very good light either.
Interesting that it kept bringing up the relationship between the HRH and Hitler. It's fascinating to ponder what would have been the outcome of WWII if he would not have abdicated the throne.
And Maybell, oh goodness she's so stupid. She has such a small, small world view, especially in light of all the people that she's exposed to, and Wallis Simpson just walks all over her. I kept wanting her to catch a clue. Very few redeeming qualities in her, although the last few pages do give her an additional dimension that was a nice way to wrap up.
Interesting that it kept bringing up the relationship between the HRH and Hitler. It's fascinating to ponder what would have been the outcome of WWII if he would not have abdicated the throne.
And Maybell, oh goodness she's so stupid. She has such a small, small world view, especially in light of all the people that she's exposed to, and Wallis Simpson just walks all over her. I kept wanting her to catch a clue. Very few redeeming qualities in her, although the last few pages do give her an additional dimension that was a nice way to wrap up.
May 10, 2012
La rencontre, puis la passion et tout le scandale, entre Wallis Simpson et le Prince de galles, vus au travers des yeux d'une amie d'enfance de la première, d'abord un tout petit peu condescendante, puis un tout petit peu jalouse - mais si discrètement et si élégamment. Presque autant que l'histoire, j'ai adoré la re-création de ces années d'entre deux guerres, où les toilettes, les dîners, et la montée de l'hitlérisme étaient traités avec la même passion et la même légèreté. Le futile et le grave mêlés dans une valse folle.
L'excellent film "le discours d'un roi" nous montrait la gravité et le dévouement de "Bertie", ici nous sommes immergés dans le camp adverse, auquel les faits ont donné tort et qui finalement était la dernière incarnation d'un monde que la guerre a emporté.
Comme souvent avec un livre sous la forme "journal" quand il est bien écrit, c'est une vraie boîte de bonbons, on en prend un autre, et puis un autre, et puis encore un autre...
L'excellent film "le discours d'un roi" nous montrait la gravité et le dévouement de "Bertie", ici nous sommes immergés dans le camp adverse, auquel les faits ont donné tort et qui finalement était la dernière incarnation d'un monde que la guerre a emporté.
Comme souvent avec un livre sous la forme "journal" quand il est bien écrit, c'est une vraie boîte de bonbons, on en prend un autre, et puis un autre, et puis encore un autre...
October 8, 2010
This book made me want to know more about Wally Simpson. I honestly had never thought that deeply about her before (I must confess that I haven't thought that deeply about the British monarchy at all, with the exception of Kenneth Brannagh's Henry V!). This book portrays Wally Simpson as being quite shallow but crafty. And the stuff about her crush on Hitler was just plain shocking and weird. I am interested if this reflects the truth.
I thought it was a fun read, a la Bridget Jones diary style. It was a bit long though, making it a bit monotonous. I think about 100-150 pages should have been cut out. It would have felt snappy then.
I thought it was a fun read, a la Bridget Jones diary style. It was a bit long though, making it a bit monotonous. I think about 100-150 pages should have been cut out. It would have felt snappy then.
July 13, 2010
This is a really fun book for those who are familiar with the players in the Abdication Crisis. The character who is the diarist is a fabrication, of course, and she is a slightly dippy American who knew Wallis Simpson in school when they were girls. I loved the wit, the cluelessness, the intrigue, and the "insider" information. The ending was a little grim, but then the Blitz was, too. Very easy to read.
June 21, 2010
this is a fun book, I found it a little sad too, got a little bogged down in the middle, could have been about 50 pages shorter and just as good of a story. But overall an entertaining read, made me really laugh a few times.
April 5, 2013
This is a hilarious bit of historical fiction written as diary entries by the� best friend� of Wallace Simpson during her courtship to the future King of England. Graham brings these characters alive beautifully in all of their ridiculous self-important glory. Prepare to laugh!
February 21, 2015
Such a riveting read. I would read this book a hundred times and still be captivated. Laurie Graham's writing was clear, concise as well as captivating. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a thrill.
January 18, 2009
Too slow and chatty for me. Were they really that shallow?
March 29, 2019
Slow to start but couldn't put it down in the end! Interesting read of what could've happened. . .
October 27, 2022
3.5 stars
The Royals are an infinitely fascinating topic for me so I was looking forward to this read. This was a lot of fun - I only downgraded it a bit in the star rating as it became slightly repetitive after a while.
This book is a delicious satire, that begins in 1932. The fictional Maybell Brumby is a Baltimore widow who went to school with a young girl called Wally Warfield. After her bereavement, Maybell moves to London as her sister Violet has married a Lord and is now living the boring and uncomfortable life of the aristocracy, rushing from one committee to the next. Maybell finds that Wally also lives in London now. Although married, Wally is 'on the make' and has her cap set at Wales.
This, of course, describes Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales. Maybell's wonderful diary describes their relationship from their first meeting through the abdication of the throne and to the beginning of World War II.
Maybell is the perfect chronicler as she is so delightfully dim, utterly self-absorbed and completely oblivious to others' feelings. She tells us all about the happenings, while half of it is going straight over her head. Maybell's chief concerns are fashions and where to go for dinner and weekends away and more importantly with whom. Her diary is like a laundry list of the best (and often, very boring and stuffy!) of London's elite.
Comments such as this from Maybell:
"Tomorrow we're to visit the Dardanelles. Jack Aird speaks of them as though I should know them, but I really don't recall them. One meets so many people."
Wallis comes across as a total b***h, completely deserving of the description of her as 'That Woman'.
A fun read.
The Royals are an infinitely fascinating topic for me so I was looking forward to this read. This was a lot of fun - I only downgraded it a bit in the star rating as it became slightly repetitive after a while.
This book is a delicious satire, that begins in 1932. The fictional Maybell Brumby is a Baltimore widow who went to school with a young girl called Wally Warfield. After her bereavement, Maybell moves to London as her sister Violet has married a Lord and is now living the boring and uncomfortable life of the aristocracy, rushing from one committee to the next. Maybell finds that Wally also lives in London now. Although married, Wally is 'on the make' and has her cap set at Wales.
This, of course, describes Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales. Maybell's wonderful diary describes their relationship from their first meeting through the abdication of the throne and to the beginning of World War II.
Maybell is the perfect chronicler as she is so delightfully dim, utterly self-absorbed and completely oblivious to others' feelings. She tells us all about the happenings, while half of it is going straight over her head. Maybell's chief concerns are fashions and where to go for dinner and weekends away and more importantly with whom. Her diary is like a laundry list of the best (and often, very boring and stuffy!) of London's elite.
Comments such as this from Maybell:
"Tomorrow we're to visit the Dardanelles. Jack Aird speaks of them as though I should know them, but I really don't recall them. One meets so many people."
Wallis comes across as a total b***h, completely deserving of the description of her as 'That Woman'.
A fun read.
October 20, 2021
"From the unexpurgated pages of the fictional diary of Maybell Brumby comes the inside dirt on the shameless divorcee who led the besotted Prince of Wales to abdicate his throne.
"When Maybell Brumby, frisky, wealthy, and recently widowed, quits Baltimore and arrives in London, she finds her old school chum, Bessie Wallis Warfield, is there ahead of her. Impoverished and ambitious as ever, Wallis is on the make. Hampered by plodding husband number two, but armed with terrific bone structure and a few erotic tricks picked up in China, Wallis sets her sights on the most eligible bachelor in the world: the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. Maybell, with her deep pockets, makes the perfect ally, and her disarming dimness makes her the most delicious chronicler of the scandal that rocked a monarchy and changed the course of history."
~~back cover
What a fascinating book! It certainly portrayed the dynamics between the Prince and Wally Simpson in a totally different light than I'd understood before. I'd always thought of her as a pretty woman whom the Prince just fell in love with, but this book makes her into a rather plain, scheming social climber and all round termagant. It was fun reading about how the "romance" developed and how it ended.
"When Maybell Brumby, frisky, wealthy, and recently widowed, quits Baltimore and arrives in London, she finds her old school chum, Bessie Wallis Warfield, is there ahead of her. Impoverished and ambitious as ever, Wallis is on the make. Hampered by plodding husband number two, but armed with terrific bone structure and a few erotic tricks picked up in China, Wallis sets her sights on the most eligible bachelor in the world: the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. Maybell, with her deep pockets, makes the perfect ally, and her disarming dimness makes her the most delicious chronicler of the scandal that rocked a monarchy and changed the course of history."
~~back cover
What a fascinating book! It certainly portrayed the dynamics between the Prince and Wally Simpson in a totally different light than I'd understood before. I'd always thought of her as a pretty woman whom the Prince just fell in love with, but this book makes her into a rather plain, scheming social climber and all round termagant. It was fun reading about how the "romance" developed and how it ended.
November 10, 2023
It took me a while to warm to Maybell (the character whose diary we read). In particular, she describes her younger sister Eveline ‘Stupid�/ ‘Doopie� very cruelly, Maybell having had her nose put out of joint when Eveline was born on her own birthday- the gift of a sister instead of the brand new donkey cart she had hoped for. Be prepared for some of Maybell’s awful opinions about Doopie (the words she uses are really horrible) which fortunately none of the other characters share. Doopie is very well loved and respected.
Maybell proves to be a poor judge of character throughout the book, but this is what gives her a ringside seat to the abdication. It is also why she remains in Paris even as Hitler’s army draws perilously close.
I did get a bit lost with the huge cast, but very much enjoyed the way that fictional and nonfictional characters interacted to tell the story. Importantly, when you scratch the surface of Maybell’s snobbish, ill-informed, spoiled character, there is a much better person underneath.
Maybell proves to be a poor judge of character throughout the book, but this is what gives her a ringside seat to the abdication. It is also why she remains in Paris even as Hitler’s army draws perilously close.
I did get a bit lost with the huge cast, but very much enjoyed the way that fictional and nonfictional characters interacted to tell the story. Importantly, when you scratch the surface of Maybell’s snobbish, ill-informed, spoiled character, there is a much better person underneath.
February 24, 2019
This started off so well, I loved the first quarter or so. But then it became so repetitive, the focus being on Maybell's lunches and getting her hair done. And the whole Wallis Simpson / abdication storyline was told in such a way as to actually make it sound a bit boring. Wallis was an awful character, but she's often portrayed like that so that was no surprise (although after she married David she was unbearable and I did question why Maybell stayed with her). Maybell started off naive and a bit thick, but entertaining enough, and then as war drew closer and then broke out she became awful, just horrible. The only characters I quite liked were her sister's family, although what happened there was predictable.
I found the Doopie storyline (how could M not have known??) and the speech thing (with Flora) a bit bizarre tbh.
And as has been pointed out by others, it needed a good editor and should have been about half as long.
Disappointing overall.
I found the Doopie storyline (how could M not have known??) and the speech thing (with Flora) a bit bizarre tbh.
And as has been pointed out by others, it needed a good editor and should have been about half as long.
Disappointing overall.
May 8, 2017
As the British might say--a jolly good read! I seemed to experience the guilty pleasure of reading something like a gossip tabloid which showed behind the scenes of the life of The Duke of Windsor and his famous/infamous wife, Wallis Simpson in the 1930's up to WWII. This was told in an unusual way as diary entries written by a fictional character, Maybell Brumby, who supposedly went to school with Wallis in Baltimore. Other characters were real people and the events were often true. I often had to laugh or shake my head at the arrogance, the frivolity, the insensitivity and the ignorance of the upper class with their rigid rituals and life styles. A fun read that I couldn't put down!
January 7, 2023
This was a fun read. The Windsors were the Kardashians of their day. Constantly in the news and on the move from one society watering hole to another. And just about as useless. Graham weaves together fiction and fact in the form of a diary of a fictitious friend. She's extremely shallow (as are the Windsors) and blathers on much to long (the book really needed a good edit) and frankly not very bright. Graham has done her research and mentions anyone and everyone who was active in London society in the 1930s. You'll need a background in the history of that era to know who is an actual person who is a figment of Graham's imagination.
I'd classify this as a good "airplane" read!
I'd classify this as a good "airplane" read!
July 5, 2020
At first I thought, this isn't as good as her other books, but slowly the characters grew on me and I was very sorry to come to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed my daily fix of Maybell and her best friends Wally (Wallace Simpson) and David (Edward VIII). Here is a story of high society in the 1930s/1940's, the lives of royalty, the abdication of King and the start of international travel.
November 13, 2021
DNF. Didn’t really start. Within 2 pages, the main character refers to her younger sister as a ‘retard� because of “brain fever�, and tells her she will never to to the ball. Why would I continue with a vile character who is supposedly snarky, but actually horrible? No thanks. No wonder the book was in an op shop.
July 31, 2024
I love Laurie Graham’s books and this painted a fantastic picture of the lifestyle of - presumably- a certain portion of rich society between the wars. I felt it needed some editing and I found the continuing name checking confusing. It was however very cleverly written revealing a lot about people from reading between the lines
March 30, 2018
Same old story. This time a novel written as a diary of a friend of Wally’s A few good laughs and a “little boy man� who got bowled over by a self possessed woman. Actually they were two of a kind that deserved each other. Novel or no the book pretty well nails it
July 9, 2020
The whole cast of the book were selfish, entitled and not nice.
Would love to know how much of this was properly researched as to their characters- were they all truly this awful?
Love LG normally, this definitely my least favourite because of the people in it. Still same great quality writing.
Would love to know how much of this was properly researched as to their characters- were they all truly this awful?
Love LG normally, this definitely my least favourite because of the people in it. Still same great quality writing.
June 29, 2022
Interesting
History repeating itself nowadays with Harry and Mega /Wally and David and Hitler/Putin scenarios. Slightly amusing and contains historical and biographical details amongst the fiction. .
History repeating itself nowadays with Harry and Mega /Wally and David and Hitler/Putin scenarios. Slightly amusing and contains historical and biographical details amongst the fiction. .
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