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Reviews added August 09:
Truly interesting. Osborne paints an enthralling portrait of upper class English life just before, during and immediately after the Great War. Frivolous, rich, sexy, achingly fashionable… [Idina was] a tragic figure of a young woman whose life was broken by the catastrophes of 1914-18..’ Robert McCrum, Observer
‘This is a truly astonishing book. Frances Osborne has not just brought to life a dizzingly rich and scandalous slice of social history, she has produced a tragic and deeply moving tale as well. It is far more gripping than any novel I have read for years’ Antony Beevor
‘A wonderfully engaging book which combines the tingling immediacy of the best kind of history with the stay-up-till-3am-to-finish-it urgency of a bestseller.’ Allison Pearson, Daily Mail
'The Bolter is a corker of a subject. Idina's behaviour was out of Vile Bodies, the stuff of fiction: she became “Iris Storm” in Michael Arlen's novel The Green Hat; and probably inspired “The Bolter” in Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. Osborne's richly wrought descriptions (of glittering Paris nights and lush mountainous landscapes of Kenya's Happy Valley) are fabulous...a breakneck-paced, thoroughly diverting story.' Valerie Grove, The Times
‘Passionate and headstrong, Lady Idina was determined to be free even if the cost was scandal and ruin. Frances Osborne has brilliantly captured not only one woman's life but an entire lost society.’ Amanda Foreman
'Frances Osborne writes in a warm, sympathetic and engrossing way, evoking in well-chosen detail the razzmatazz of the very rich.’ Kate McCloughlin, Times Literary Supplement
‘The Bolter is a biographical treat’ Kerry Fowler, Good Housekeeping
‘Osborne is a graceful writer, excellent at evoking the atmosphere of London during the First World War and Happy Valley in the Twenties. Her judgement is pitch-perfect, never letting Idina off the hook but at the same time sympathetic towards her, and she skilfully captures the myriad twists and turns of a turbulent life.’ Christopher Silvester, Daily Express
‘Frances Osborne has produced a racy romp underpinned by some impressive research. She understands the period and the world she describe: she is excellent, for instance, on young upper-class society around 1914; on Paris during the First World War; and on the life and landscape of British Kenya in the 1920s and 1930s.’ Selina Hastings, Sunday Telegraph
‘Idina Sackville's story is a parable of the 20th century...Osborne tells this tragicomedy of the Jazz Age with wit and style...and has written an enthralling account of a dazzling troubled life.’ Julian Fellowes, Daily Mail
'From the opening scene in Claridge’s Hotel in the mid-1930’s, it is possible to forget that The Bolter is non-fiction, as the heady pace and richness of detail propel the reader through each sensational and increasingly tragic phase of Idina’s life.' Juliet Nicolson, Evening Standard.
‘An engaging book and a definitive final look back at those naughty people who, between the wars, took their bad behaviour off to Kenya and whose upper-class delinquency became gilded with unjustified glamour.’ Alexandra Fuller, Financial Times
‘A bewitching character brilliantly painted’ Easy Living
'A superb portrait of an astonishing woman and her times.’ WBQ
‘Osborne is an imaginative scene painter… Idina wasn’t admirable, but Osborne makes us sympathise with her.’ Marianne Brace, Independent
‘Frances Osborne unearths the moving truth behind the headlines. It’s a melancholy, vivid portrait of a list lady and her troubled world. 4 Stars’ Marie Claire
‘This biography tells the truth (and the heartache) behind the woman who scandalised upper-class England.’ Elle
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BY FRANCES OSBORNE
