Rose blandt Rødder

by Charlotte Bingham

In 1963, exactly fifty years ago, an unknown author took the book world by storm when publishing her autobiography at the tender age of nineteen. It stormed to the top of the non fiction Best Sellers list, creating a literary sensation en route and was published in twelve other countries including the USA. The teenage author embarked on a major author tour of every country that had bought her book, immediately becoming a cult figure in the global media, the wildfire publicity campaign culminating in the paparazzi hanging from the trees outside her family home, television appearances in most every country that had television and multi page spreads in all the glossies including LIFE magazine and PARIS MATCH. Being the the daughter of LORD CLANMORRIS an impoverished Irish peer who was also the notable thriller writer author JOHN BINGHAM, and MADELEINE BINGHAM the novelist and playwright, Charlotte had grown up in a literary household yet no one in her family had expected her to burst upon the literary world in such a sensational fashion at such a tender age, a debut that left many Establishment figures speechless seeing the book 'taking the lid of Society' and thus in some way as a betrayal of the author's own class and background. The book is of course nothing of the sort. What it is is hilariously funny, inocent, highly original and touching and as a result it became an icon for the young of all classes. It was in fact considered to be a work serious enough for certain Scandanavian universities to include it in their curriculum not only as an important social document but as a work of literary merit. Fifty years on it is still remembered with enormous affection by everyone who read it and heard about it at the time, whether they read it as a hardback book or as a serialisation in The People, a Sunday newspaper more famous for its sensational journalism than its literary merit, the book being chosen personally by the Editor simply because as he confessed he had never read anything so funny or so touching.
In its time CORONET AMONG THE WEEDS has been compared to THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and not without good reason since both are wonderful statements of the hopes and beliefs of contemporary youth.
To disprove some of her critics who claimed the book to be a fluke and Miss Bingham to be a one trick literary pony, the young author went on to become one of the best selling and best loved authors of her generation, having to date written over forty works of published fiction as well as countless successful television, stage and film scripts in collaboration with her husband the actor and writer TERENCE BRADY, also publishing the autobiograhical sequel to her first book, CORONET AMONG THE GRASS,
another best seller that she and her husband finally adapted for television as the chart topping comedy series NO HONESTLY.
The humour in the book is as fresh as the day it was minted, as does the originality and honesty of the author's perception.

Genres: Memoir

142 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1963

About the author

The Honourable Charlotte Mary Thérèse Bingham was born on 29 June 1942 in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England, UK. Her father, John Bingham, the 7th Baron Clanmorris, wrote detective stories and was a secret member of MI5. Her mother, Madeleine Bingham, née Madeleine Mary Ebel, was a playwright. Charlotte first attended a school in London, but from the age of seven to 16, she went to the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath. After she left school, she went to stay in Paris with some French aristocrats with the intention of learning French. She had written since she was 10 years old and her first piece of work was a thriller called Death's Ticket. She wrote her humorous autobiography, called Coronet Among the Weeds, when she was 19, and not long before her twentieth birthday a literary agent discovered her celebrating at the Ritz. He was a friend of her parents and he took off the finished manuscript of her autobiography. In 1963, this was published by Heinemanns and was a best seller.

In 1966, Charlotte Bingham's first novel, called Lucinda, was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. In 1972, Coronet Among the Grass, her second autobiography, was published. This talked about the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. They couple, who have two children, later adapted Coronet Among the Grass and Coronet Among the Weeds, into the TV sitcom No, Honestly. She and her husband, Terence Brady, wrote three early episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs together, Board Wages, I Dies from Love and Out of the Everywhere. They later wrote an accompanying book called Rose's Story. They also wrote the episodes of Take Three Girls featuring Victoria (Liza Goddard). In the 1970s Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series Play for Today, Three Comedies of Marriage, Yes, Honestly and Robin's Nest. During the 1980s and 1990s they continued to write for the occasional TV series, and in 1993 adapted Jilly Cooper's novel Riders for the small screen. Since the 1980s she has become a romance novelist. In 1996 she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Coronet Among the Weeds by Charlotte Bingham is a 2014 publication- originally published in 1963-

This short memoir by Charlotte Bingham, which she published at the age of nineteen, in 1963, caused quite a sensation.

I stumbled across this book after checking out Charlotte’s latest book, MI5 and Me. Doing a little Google search, I was amazed by what I discovered about Charlotte’s life and her parentage. So, without hesitation, I went in search of more books by this author. Since this book is autobiographical, I thought it would be a good place to start. I never imagined how hilarious, innocent, and scathing it would be. One must understand the time frame in which the book was written, and understand that Charlotte was being a little satirical, poking fun at her own ‘class’ labels. For its time, it was quite provocative, but it catapulted Charlotte into the spotlight.

Today, the book shows its age, and isn't nearly as effective, but it still has a few biting remarks. But, with Charlotte’s rambling style, her seemingly innocent tone muted the barely contained disdain, making it palatable, and less acerbic.

There is a sequel to this book, which I also picked up with my KU subscription. I’m interested in learning how Charlotte followed up her first memoir.

3 stars

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful and very funny autobiography written when Charlotte Bingham was still a teenager, and describing her adventures after leaving school. Her mostly unsatisfactory relationships with various ‘weeds’ with whom she was surrounded, her friends, family, secretarial course, various jobs etc, are all described in a lively style with much humour, as are her thoughts on life. Very enjoyable.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahead of her time- hard to believe this was written in the early '60's. Bingham wrote this at age 19- what a talent, but although I enjoyed it, I don't feel this book would appeal to the majority of readers. Sarcastic and irreverent look at her family life, school, and growing up.

[Kaj Roihio]

Olen jonkin aikaa lukenut kirjoja äitini jäämistöstä. Nuoren naisen kirjoja 50-luvulta ja 60-luvun alusta. Ajattelin jotenkin tavoittavani jotain sellaista, mikä muovasi hänestä sen, mitä oli sitten myöhemmin. Itse kirjoilta en varsinaisesti odottanut suuriakaan, tuomitsin ne etukäteen melkoiseksi hömpäksi, nuorten naisten romanttiseksi lukemistoksi. Myönnän tehneeni virhearvion, olin täysin väärässä. Romantiikkaa näissä kieltämättä on, sehän on aika luonnollista, jos puhutaan nuorille suunnatuista kirjoista. Samalla nämä kuitenkin ovat hyviä. Francoise Saganin esikoisteos Tervetuloa ikävä oli oikein hyvä ja tämä, Charlotte Binghamin Ruusu ja rikkaruoho on oikeastaan jopa parempi, vaikka vähemmän tunnettu nykyään. Mitään juonta tässä ei ole, 20-vuotias kirjoittaja muistelee teini-ikäänsä melko suorasukaisesti ja todenmukaisesti. Ihannemiehen etsimistä, tempoilua identiteetin kanssa, ulkonäköpaineita, kaikkia näitä Bingham kuvailee erittäin humoristisesti. Kirja on itse asiassa niin mainio, että mieleen nousi epäoikeudenmukainen ajatus mahdollisen kustannustoimittajan roolista tekstin hiomisessa. Toivottavasti näin ei ole, haluan Binghamin kirjoittaneen kirjansa ihan itse. Kävelyt Seinen vasenta rantaa tyylirikkoisesti hattu päässä, kokeilut beatnikkinä, seurapiirihahmona, kymmenissä eri työpaikoissa ovat hyvinkin lukemisen arvoisia ja Aarne T. K. Lahtisen suomennos on kerta kaikkisen kiitettävä. Mitäköhän kaikkea muuta herkullista äiti minulle jätti?

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 STARS

Enormous fun, a sort of window into another world and historical document but also so fresh and enjoyable. Charlotte Bingham has such a strong authorial voice, it reads so much like a YA novel with that teenage flippancy, sarcasm, high emotions and curiosity about people and the world.
And she is so witty and funny in her (usually scathing) observations of the people around her (particularly the chinless weeds) that I kept wanting to read quotes out to people!

[Astor Teller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book because it has the outlook of a quirky aristocratic teenage girl. It doesn’t have a premise or a story arc, but the life experiences of an adolescent trying to find a superman and cope with the adult world.

The book is short, but if you ever want to research a young, humorous and optimistic mindset of a female in an English aristocratic world, this is the book to read. Or for that matter, if you are in dire need for a chuckle or a laugh.

[Margaret Conmey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The phrase ‘of its time’ applies to this book
OK to read but dated due to topical in-jokes about Beatniks,etc
Difficult to see why it was such a sensation when it was published but presumably caught the zeitgeist

[Amanda Graham · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up, I couldn’t get into this.

[Kittaroo · Rating 4 out of 5]

È davvero divertente, ricordandosi quando è stato scritto. Un punto di vista davvero spassoso sulla buona società inglese degli anni 60.

[Marwan Asmar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, maybe a little bit daring for the early 1960s