Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown
by Anne Glenconner
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Lady
Glenconner's life could arguably not have failed to make unputdownable reading.
One might think it impossible for any aristocratic wife of the owner of the
island of Mustique, and royal Lady-in-Waiting, to get this wrong, considering
readership thirst. Yet being a prominent peeress and socialite does not always
a fine author make. Some other daughter of an earl may not have been blessed
with this one's magnetic persona or storytelling prowess. Whilst she humbly
acknowledges the publisher's support, this articulate and amusing woman is a
born raconteuse.
Her words glow with the impish charm and wry wit reminiscent of the late great
Nancy Mitford, another highborn Mistress of Anecdote whose work became an
industry. Literary critic Raymond Mortimer wrote that Mitford's Madame de
Pompadour "reads as if an enchantingly clever woman was pouring out the
story to me on the telephone." In Glenconner's Lady in Waiting we
find a similar flair. As with Mitford's globally loved works, Lady Anne's
narrative makes no stab at literary greatness, instead riding on candour and
authenticity guaranteed to entertain.
Her breathtakingly privileged status never once becomes the storytelling
liability it could have, in connecting with everyday people. Her frankness and
humility win us onside, without an ounce of the pomposity that has been the
undoing of some biographers of her rank.
That we can't help but empathise over some of the awfulness life has thrown at
her, is testimony to the balance of this piece. Her starchy aristocratic father
Thomas Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester, her impossible but fabulous husband Colin
Tennant, 3rd Baron Glennconner, her adored yet tragic two sons the Hon. Henry
and Charles Tennant, were never going to make Lady Anne's life a walk in the
park. But fabulous times she has enjoyed, and she shares these generously with
her readers, taking us on the ride of our lives.
Having anticipated this finely polished biography for a year, I drank it up in
four nights and was saddened to close the last page.
A classy and delicious read. More please, Lady G.
No comments:
Post a Comment