Sheila: The Australian ingenue who bewitched British society; by Robert Wainwright.
One begins with an intriguing opening about someone elderly arriving home after a lifetime spent across the world, in glitterati society as someone who takes it all naturally, and yet is more regal in spite of being very natural, very casual about it all - wondering if this person was real.
It is a bit disappointing to realise this is a halfway compromise between biography and gossip chronicles cleansed with hints of alliances but more details of who attended what wearing what, not because one wishes more gossip, rather the opposite - because one was expecting more in depth about the world as it was during the era. After all this person lived in very interesting times, and being disappointed with the book halfway through when it has arrived slowly to just before beginning of WWII is no mean achievement in being a court appointed cleaner of royal reputations.
Of course, it could become suddenly interesting, but seems doubtful going by what three quarters of it has been so far.
Wonder if this author is related to, or same as, the person who tried to put across a face saving "they were applauding the song, not the speech" despite truth being observed by the whole world (and as it was watched on live television, too) obviously to the contrary?
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Friday, May 13, 2016.
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Funnily enough the relevance comes through at the end when it is mentioned why the author took up the project at all - it was an elusive reference to Sheila in a biography of the king, her friend of many years during youth when he was Prince Bertie, along with the then Prince of Wales - it was clear that the mention of Sheila was rare because she had been a chief love in life of the then prince, which intrigued the publisher and thus the book proposal. The author mentions just how difficult it was to find material about this person so elusive on fringes of so many glitterati lives, and that the book was only possible because the material was made available by the various sources.
But the book does become interesting, as expected, in the last four tenth or so part - partly it is due to the WWII and post WWII world, and partly it is due to her finally finding peace with a Russian prince in exile, Dimitri Romanoff. He was introduced on the first page, but came later in her life as a main figure.
.................................................
Wednesday, May 18, 2016.
..................................................
One begins with an intriguing opening about someone elderly arriving home after a lifetime spent across the world, in glitterati society as someone who takes it all naturally, and yet is more regal in spite of being very natural, very casual about it all - wondering if this person was real.
It is a bit disappointing to realise this is a halfway compromise between biography and gossip chronicles cleansed with hints of alliances but more details of who attended what wearing what, not because one wishes more gossip, rather the opposite - because one was expecting more in depth about the world as it was during the era. After all this person lived in very interesting times, and being disappointed with the book halfway through when it has arrived slowly to just before beginning of WWII is no mean achievement in being a court appointed cleaner of royal reputations.
Of course, it could become suddenly interesting, but seems doubtful going by what three quarters of it has been so far.
Wonder if this author is related to, or same as, the person who tried to put across a face saving "they were applauding the song, not the speech" despite truth being observed by the whole world (and as it was watched on live television, too) obviously to the contrary?
.............................................
Friday, May 13, 2016.
.............................................
Funnily enough the relevance comes through at the end when it is mentioned why the author took up the project at all - it was an elusive reference to Sheila in a biography of the king, her friend of many years during youth when he was Prince Bertie, along with the then Prince of Wales - it was clear that the mention of Sheila was rare because she had been a chief love in life of the then prince, which intrigued the publisher and thus the book proposal. The author mentions just how difficult it was to find material about this person so elusive on fringes of so many glitterati lives, and that the book was only possible because the material was made available by the various sources.
But the book does become interesting, as expected, in the last four tenth or so part - partly it is due to the WWII and post WWII world, and partly it is due to her finally finding peace with a Russian prince in exile, Dimitri Romanoff. He was introduced on the first page, but came later in her life as a main figure.
.................................................
Wednesday, May 18, 2016.
..................................................
