Facades: Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell

by John George Pearson

Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell were the children of possibly the most selfish and mismatched couple in the annals of the British aristocracy. John Pearson describes the public and private live of this strangest and most flamboyant of literary families.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, 20th Century

534 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

John Pearson was a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming. He was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming. Pearson also wrote "true-crime" biographies, such as The Profession of Violence: an East End gang story about the rise and fall of the Kray twins.

Pearson would also become the third official James Bond author of the adult-Bond series, writing in 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, a first-person biography of the fictional agent James Bond. Although the canonical nature of this book has been debated by Bond fans since it was published, it was officially authorized by Glidrose Publications, the official publisher of the James Bond chronicles. Glidrose reportedly considered commissioning Pearson to write a new series of Bond novels in the 1970s, but nothing came of this.

Pearson was commissioned by Donald Campbell to chronicle his successful attempt on the Land Speed Record in 1964 in Bluebird CN7, resulting in the book Bluebird and the Dead Lake.

Pearson wrote the non-fiction book, The Gamblers, an account about the group of gamblers who made up, what was known as the Clermont Set, which included John Aspinall, James Goldsmith and Lord Lucan. The film rights to the book were purchased by Warner Bros. in 2006. He also wrote Façades, the first full-scale biography of the literary Sitwell siblings, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, published in 1978.

Pearson also wrote five novels:

Gone To Timbuctoo (1962) - winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award

James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)

The Bellamy Saga (1976)

Biggles: The Authorized Biography (1978)

The Kindness of Dr. Avicenna (1982).

Pearson passed away on November 13, 2021. He was ninety one at the time of his death.

Reviews

[Velvetink · Rating 3 out of 5]

A massive book about the Sitwell family, a complicated story skilfully told - real tragedy and black comedy.Incls. b&W Photographs.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following the wake of my recent trip with Stephen Tennant I have of late been transported into the strange hothouse world of the Sitwills, via John Pearson's Facades: Edith, Osbert and Sachervell Sitwell (London: MacMillan, 1978). Years ago during my forays into English literature, and to satifsy my quest to read the canon of English literature I had read Edith Sitwell's English Eccentrics and I had always intended to return to their strange and poetic world. But life's circumstances, school, required readings kept from sinking into the great overstuffed chair of their world. I had in the past immersed myself in the concentric worlds of Bloomsbury in London, of Cocteau and Stein in Paris and the expatriate communities of Americans inMorroco, Florence and Venice. Sinking into their magical and yet strange world has been a joy at the end of each day. And meeting so many friends from previous journeys brings back hazy memories of a child seeking to search out the strange, unique, beautiful and wonderous in the world. I have lived with them for a week now, stretching out my reading of their stories, of their lives, because I so much enjoyed traveling with them across Europe and North America on their literary, artistic journeys. When we find ourselves unable to rise out of our own circumstances reading provides such magical worlds outside of ourselves and opens the mind to possibilities, undreamed and unimagined.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and entertaining if you're an anglophile, like me (at least until Thatcher destroyed it).

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this because the Sitwell siblings appear in every modern biography I've ever read, but I didn't know much about them. They were poets. After an unhappy childhood, they escaped together and became famous for their work. Sacheveral married and had a happy life; Osbert and Edith didn't do as well. Edith in particular spent most of her life feuding with people.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book. I gave it 4/5 due to its length - it needed a good editing, there being a fair amount of repetition. I didn't need to know quite so much about the Sitwells. Thoroughly researched, it is a great introduction into this wonderful and wacky family. Osbert and Edith, in particular, were total jobs of work. I loved them!

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointingly written biography of a really fascinating sibling trio. Unfortunately, the author tended to get bogged down in the chronological details and you never really get a sense of the bigger picture.

[Padraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

The. Oddest. Family. Ever. The only place left for the author to go was the Krays.