First published 2009
Frances Osborne uncovers the extraordinary story of her great-grandmother Idina Sackville, the woman who inspired Nancy Mitford's "Bolter" character. Born into aristocracy as daughter of the eighth Earl De La Warr, Idina seemed destined for a conventional upper-class life. She married a wealthy cavalry officer and lived in luxury between London and Scotland. Then World War I shattered their world. Her husband destroyed their marriage, driving Idina into the arms of lovers and a haze of morphine. She became the quintessential flapper, racing through London in her Hispano-Suiza and shocking society with her behavior. In 1918, she abandoned England entirely, fleeing to Kenya with her second husband. Osborne draws on never-before-seen letters, diaries, and family stories to follow Idina from the champagne breakfasts of lost-generation London to the wild foothills of Kenya's Aberdare mountains, where her world of excess eventually crumbled into chaos.
Genres: biography, historical-fiction, 20th-century, non-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, social-commentary
Setting: Aberdare Mountains, England, Kenya, London, Scotland
Period: 1918, World War I
300 pages · Kindle Edition · Knopf
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use