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    Gone with the Windsors: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Gone with the Windsors: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Gone with the Windsors: A Novel
    Ebook537 pages8 hours

    Gone with the Windsors: A Novel

    By Laurie Graham

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “[A] witty and un-catty insight into British pre-war high society, as Wally and Maybell rise and shine while the storm clouds gather over Europe.” —Independent

    A wicked comedy about the romance of the century—how Wallis Simpson caused the first, and greatest, royal scandal—from the best-selling author of The Future Homemakers of America

    When Maybell Brumby, frisky, wealthy, and recently widowed, quits Baltimore and arrives in London, she finds that her old school chum, Bessie Wallis Warfield, is there ahead of her. Impoverished and ambitious as ever, Wallis is on the make. Hampered by plodding husband number two, but armed with terrific bone structure and a few erotic tricks picked up in China, Wallis sets her sights on the most eligible bachelor in the world: the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. Maybell, with her deep pockets, makes the perfect ally, and her disarming dimness makes her the most delicious chronicler of the scandal that rocked a monarchy and changed the course of history.

    As fizzy as a freshly-popped bottle of champagne, Gone with the Windsors is a supremely clever entertainment: bedtime reading for lovers of Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061842931
    Unavailable
    Gone with the Windsors: A Novel
    Author

    Laurie Graham

    Laurie Graham is the bestselling author of more than fifteen novels, including The Future Homemakers of America and its sequel, The Early Birds. First published at the age of forty, Graham is a mother of four. She lives in London. You can find her at lauriegraham.com.

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    Reviews for Gone with the Windsors

    4/5

    61 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Really fun book by one of my favourite authors. Just whipped through it - wish we knew for sure if this was anything like the relationship between Wally Simpson and Prince Edward.Back Cover Blurb:The scandalous divorcee who led the besotted Prince of Wales to abdicate his throne first appears in the fictional diary of Maybell Brumby as her schoolmate Bessie. 'I'm Wallis,' she snarls, 'and if you call me anything else you're going to be sorry.'One social climber swiftly recognizes another. When life's whimsical currents toss these two gilt-edged gold diggers together again as adults, history will change its course.Maybell is the wealthy, friskily young widow of a Baltimore bore, eager to break into London society. Wallis has jettisoned husband number one and is looking for the escape hatch from husband number two; impoverished as ever, she's armed only with that terrific bone structure, a few erotic tricks she's picked up in the Far East, and the determination to land the most eligible bachelor in the world. And now, to help her on her quest, she has her old chum Maybell, along with her inexhaustible trust fund and her useful inability to recognize the deft touch of a born con artist.Trailing a cloud of Worth perfume and an ermine stole, missing the point of every conversation, the deliciously dim Maybell witnesses the courtship of the twentieth century and the scandal that rocked a monarchy - recording all in her diary.
    • 4/5
      I started to read this book because I've read a few of Laurie Graham's books before and enjoyed her way of writing. At first I thought, this isn't as good as her other books, but slowly the characters grew on me, and I was very sorry to come to the end of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed my daily fix of the lives of Maybell and her best friend Wally (Wallace Simpson) David (Edward VIII) and all the others, who mixed in the high society of the 1930 - 1940's. The lives of royalty, the abdication the second world war, early international travel and the ups and downs that come with it, Gone With The Windsors has it all and it read like a true life diary. I loved it.
    • 2/5
      This novel is in diary form, which I was able to tolerate, but may not be for every reader. This “diary” is kept by a fictional character, Maybell Brumby, who is a close friend of Wallis Simpson. Wally, as her friends call her, is famous for being the woman that King Edward VIII abdicated his throne for– and eventually marrying.There are many real-life characters that Maybell socializes with and often refers to in her diary — mostly distant royal relations of Edward’s, and Americans that Maybell knows such as the Vanderbilts. I don’t know if a reader unfamiliar with the European royal family tree would enjoy this book as much. Maybell is a somewhat shallow socialite who is also naive. For a long time, she is unable to see through Wally’s true character and constantly provides money to Wally so that she can work her way up the social ladder and associate with Edward.After a while this became annoying reading, but especially annoying was Maybell’s attitude towards her younger sister, Doopie. Doopie is deaf, and Maybell is constantly stating in her diary entries her low opinion of Doopie. In fact, when Doopie becomes engaged, Maybell tells Doopie’s fiance that she (Maybell) hopes the two of them never have children. It would have been bad enough for Maybell to denigrate Doopie a couple times in her diary, but this constantly went on through the book.I do know that there always has been, and always will be, people who are ignorant towards deaf people and there are better books that address that problem. I’m not sure what was the purpose of having a deaf character in this book, unless it was an attempt to prove how ignorant (and not very likeable) that Maybell was. Here is one typical passage, about Doopie:“Violet says there’s nothing can be done about her ears. Apparently Prince Hymie with a J [Jaime, son of King Alfonso and Queen Ena of Spain] tried a hearing aid, an electrical box that hung around his neck and plugged into his ears, for when he had to go to receptions, but it didn’t help him at all. I’m not surprised. No one at receptions can hear anything. The only thing to do is nod intelligently and move swiftly along.Rory says Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, was also deaf. Greek aunts [Prince Philip's mother], ex-Prince Hymie, Thomas Edison. Suddenly, deafness is all the rage”.Sheesh. That was one of the nicer entries regarding Maybell’s attitude towards deafness. After a while, I started skimming (mainly to see how much more insults could be thrown towards Doopie). I have read one of Laurie Graham’s previous books, "The Future Homemakers of America" , which I liked and was a very different book than this one. I hope that Laurie Graham went back to her usual style with the rest of her books, because I didn’t care for how “Gone With the Windsors” was done.
    • 5/5
      Hysterically funny work of fiction about the Duchess of Windsor. It is admirable because the author does not take the usual narrow view of Wallis Simpson. The books heroine is absolutely hysterical. I guffawed my way through this book.
    • 3/5
      A light and frothy sideways view of the Abdication Crisis and London High Society in the 1930s. Elegantly written and at times laugh out loud funny, but ultimately a little flat.
    • 4/5
      Wasn't keen to read this (picked by reading group) but listened to it on tape and absolutly loved it!