Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149919 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Daily Mail.
`moving biography makes riveting reading'

Evening Standard, Rachel Cooke
..a striking portrait not only of an amazing, if strange, woman but of an entire social class.

Lesley McDowell, Sunday Herald
a polite, restrained account

Customer Reviews

Maybe you need to be a fan....
I had never read any of Mary Wesley's book's till having to read this for my book group. I found her an unpleasant subject and the book itself suffers from lack of editing. Things are repeated throughout, sometimes even on the same page! People are introduced for one sentence because they were someone's mother's gardener - why?

I certainly wouldn't read any of her books now.

Wild Mary
I've loved Mary Wesley's books since my late teens having fallen in love with the BBC TV adaptation of the Camomile Lawn. Having never been particarly enamoured by biographies in general - and esp the idea of pseudo-celebrity ones of 20 year olds - this book was really wonderful and has made me want to re-read all her books again ('Not that Sort of Girl' being my favourite novel).
This book was about an extremely interesting, complex, human individual who had lived such a full and interesting life which was IMHO well worth writing about.
It is hard to believe that anyone could manage to get through as many lovers as she did in her younger years ;-) or how she could have possibly managed to juggle all those clandestine meetings at the Ritz etc-that was a feat in itself and was exciting enough that it read like a novel and left you wanting to know more! :-O
It was gratfying that Mary found a predominantly happy relationship with her second husband and that she managed to dazzle and shine through ingreat poverty as well as wealth & found success in her writing.
I was particularly interested by the insight into her world as a mother and how she seemed quite undisturbed with the distance between her and her children most of the time and how she resolved (or in some cases didnt) the consequences of that. I love her wit and the fact that she wasnt a maryred figure who suffered fools gladly considering some of the awful situations she faced.
Patrick Marham's research is flawless and gives a fulfilling picture of Mary Siepmann through letters, press articles, personal accounts etc - he has all angles covered!
A brilliant read for anyone (esp Wesley fans) who enjoy life this biography shows that anything could be around life's corner & made me quite look forward to getting older! :-D

No wonder her books were so good.
It is often said that to write interesting books, an author should have had interesting experiences. This biography is a fascinating account of the life of a headstrong, courageous woman who lived her life head-on. I absolutely loved the book, and intend to re-read all the novels in order. Many, many happy hours revelling in the courage of her characters, now seen in the light of their creator. Thank you Patrick.