Lesley Blanch by Anne Boston
Lesley Blanch, writer, artist and adventuress, followed her own compass in everything she did. She called herself a romantic traveller; her appetite for the exotic colours all her books. The first, The Wilder Shores of Love, became a worldwide bestseller and is still in print. Emotions, she insisted, can be transposed to places or countries and in this she was her own best example. Her guiding passion for Russia began in childhood; later she found the 'eternal Slav' in Romain Gary, Franco-Slav diplomat and writer, and with him embarked on a series of postings from Bulgaria to Los Angeles. After their divorce she transferred her obsession to Turkey, Persia and the Islamic East where she travelled widely, with tremendous baggage. She eventually settled on the Cote d'Azur, in a small pink villa dressed as exotically as herself. Lesley Blanch loved mystery; vivid yet elusive, she hid as much as she revealed and created a legend about her early past. In this first biography, Anne Boston draws on publishers' archives, unpublished journals and conversations with those who knew her, to piece together the portrait of an escapist for whom 'character plus opportunity equals fortune'.
'A lively, colourful portrait, packed with people and travel' -- Daily Mail 20100205 'Boston proves a sure-footed and sympathetic guide through the labyrinth of Blanch's self-invention' -- Sunday Times 20100205 'Affectionate and admiring' -- Daily Telegraph 20100205 'Boston has succeeded.. remarkably well, in capturing the spirit and wit of a sexy and scholarly romantic' -- Guardian 20100205 'This book is so researched, detailed and loving' -- Irish Times 20100205 'Boston ... has written a scrupulous, sympathetic ... book which surely comes as close to the truth about any elusive and not altogether likeable subject as any biography could' -- Spectator 20100205 'Boston's biography is both entertaining and scrupulously researched and there will surely never be the need for another' -- Times Literary Supplement 20100205 'This book is a worth monument to a striking lady' -- Country Life 20100205 'Boston's affectionate and admiring biography supplies some of the detail about which her subject was notably vague, but leaves the Blanch legend largely intact' -- Daily Telegraph 20100205 'As exotic and tantalising as a tale from the Arabian Nights. Glamorous and unconventional' -- Daily Express 20100205
Anne Boston has written and edited for various publications including Nova, Cosmopolitan, the Sunday Times, New Society and Country Living. Her anthology Wave Me Goodbye: Stories of the Second World War was published in 1988. She first visited the Near East in her teens and has returned as often as possible since.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780719560378 |
| ISBN 10 | 0719560373 |
| Title | Lesley Blanch |
| Author | Anne Boston |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | John Murray Press |
| Year published | 2010-02-18 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |