Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1371243 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 284 pages

Customer Reviews

An engrossing family biography

Lida Logan, A Wayward Intellect: The Life of Egbert Eames (Spire Publishing)

This is a richly seamed, meticulously researched biography and is ample proof that the subject need not be famous or a celebrity to provide a fascinating read. Lida Logan's portrait of the father she'd once resolved never to speak to is nevertheless sympathetic and often admiring. He was a charmer, a man of boundless energy and enterprise, with equally pronounced shortcomings as a husband, father and failing businessman.

His compassion and commitment, as evidenced by his tireless support before and during the 2nd World War for Jewish families escaping from Nazi Germany, stood in contrast to his marital infidelities and his untrustworthiness with money.

Lida Logan's story describes the struggles of family life from the 1930s to the 1960s, in particular drawing a vivid and detailed picture of the harsh realities of the war years. Throughout the narrative, the character of Egbert Eames is matched for dominance by the portrayal of his wife, the remarkable Dorothy. A beautiful, resolute and impressively enterprising woman, by turns loving and bitter, she is the powerhouse of the family and its anchor.

A book written with economy and great insight, A Wayward Intellect captures the ambiguities and contradictions which exist, and compete with one another, in the same persona; and it is the flaws which fascinate.
JAMES WATSON