false 3238763 6 On Friday 25th May, 1934, a forty-one-year-old woman walked into the lobby of Claridge's Hotel to meet the nineteen-year-old son whose face she did not know. Fifteen years earlier, as the First World War ended, Idina Sackville shocked high society by leaving his multimillionaire father to run off to Africa with a near penniless man. An inspiration for Nancy Mitford's character The Bolter, painted by William Orpen, and photographed by Cecil Beaton, Sackville went on to divorce a total of five times, yet died with a picture of her first love by her bed. Her struggle to reinvent her life with each new marriage left one husband murdered and branded her the 'high priestess' of White Mischief's bed-hopping Happy Valley in Kenya. Sackville's life was so scandalous that it was kept a secret from her great-granddaughter Frances Osborne. Now, Osborne tells the moving tale of betrayal and heartbreak behind Sackville's road to scandal and return, painting a dazzling portrait of high society in the early twentieth century. 3273410 1 5 2008 The Bolter: Edwardian Heartbreak and High Society Scandal in Kenya total:190|5:30|4:71|3:59|2:24|1:6| 190 665 568 67 4 3 false false Mon Jul 13 19:23:56 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 11:05:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 22:11:52 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 23:37:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Apr 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 07:13:45 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 07:18:38 -0700 2009 ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 13:27:19 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 13:31:50 -0700 2009
Mostly it ended up reading a little too much like a laundry list of affairs and scandal, but without much insight into why. The author, her great...more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Nov 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 17 07:05:39 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 09:31:04 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jul 03 08:19:15 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 08:42:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 04:30:37 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 20:00:35 -0700 2009 6-15-09: I heard the author on NPR, saw her at The Strand, fascinating tidbits but unfortunately that's all there is. Tidbits. She comes to conclusions with flimsy supporting evidence, one line from her great-grandfather's diary "...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Dec 10 04:06:07 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 04:08:36 -0800 2008
She is used as the basis of the Bolter character in Nancy Mitford books, and the biography is written by her grandaughter, who was not allowed to talk about her at home when growing up due to...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 11:11:44 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 14:20:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 17:05:34 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 17:07:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 02:20:54 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 17:59:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 07 07:31:46 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 11:17:19 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 07:31:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 09:25:17 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 09:33:11 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 3 false false Wed Sep 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 12:21:36 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 12:37:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 21:26:44 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 21:33:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Nov 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 08:04:08 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 08:08:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 13:57:27 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 14:02:16 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Aug 07 15:23:53 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 15:25:33 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Nov 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 12:05:47 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 12:09:16 -0800 2009 1 0 false false Wed Nov 18 04:54:17 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 04:57:45 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3238763