Promotional Information

/ Key title The hilarious and touching novel from Laurie Graham -- the fictional diary of the Queen's best friend in pre-war London. / A wonderful novel that invites the reader into the exciting pre-war life of the Royals. / 'Gone with the Windsors' is unquestionably her best book to date and will be backed by a major nationwide consumer campaign, including key press and outdoor placements. / 'Future Homemakers of America' has sold over 100,000 copies in the UK alone. / Competition: Elizabeth Buchan, Joanne Harris, Anita Shreve

About the Author

Laurie Graham is the author of eight novels. ‘The Ten O’Clock Horses’ was shortlisted for the Encore Award and dramatized for Radio 4, as was ‘Perfect Meringues’. Laurie is a former Daily Telegraph columist and contributing editor to She magazine, and wrote the bestselling ‘Parents’ Survival Guide’. In addition to her novels, she writes original dramas and adaptations for BBC Radio. Her ten-episode dramatization of ‘Little Women’ was broadcasted on Woman’s Hour.Related websites: www.lauriegraham.com

Reviews

'As fresh and tangy as Wally's favourite dinner party dessert, strawberry sherbet. Maybell Brumby is a wonderfully sassy creation.' Sunday Times 'The story of Edward, Mrs Simpson and the abdication crisis might be familiar enough. Graham's gift is imagining the details.' Daily Mail 'Refreshing, honest and very funny. It's the best kind of popular women's fiction -- enjoyable without being thoughtless, smart without being superficial.' The Scotsman 'As fascinating for what it says about the interwar traffic between British and American high society as the ensuing scandal at court.' Emma Hagestadt, Independent 'The story is an absolute pleasure to read from start to finish. By infusing her sharp satire and meticulous social observation with a certain sweetness, Laurie Graham proves herself a master of showing without ever needing to tell.' Kate Riordan, Time Out 'A brilliantly inspired idea of introducing a third, fictional character to the dynamics of Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII's romance. Told in diary form, this is priceless entertainment.' Good Housekeeping 'A vivid, creative storyteller.' Judith Flanders, Times Literary Supplement Praise for Laurie Graham: 'She has wit and insight to match Nick Hornby, and the entertainment value of Helen Fielding.' Nicolette Jones, Independent 'A marvel. Graham's style is riveting, hilarious one-liners falling in quick succession.' Anthea Lawson, The Times 'You can't help being charmed by a woman who describes being sexually smitten as "the same pleasant shock as the first time I touched a frog". Wildly funny.' Sunday Times

The diary entries of shallow and oblivious Baltimore socialite Maybell Brumby comprise Graham's fourth novel, which explores the fictional lives of intimates involved in the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII. Maybell, widowed by her older husband, leaves for London in 1932 to join her sister Violet and falls in with her school friend Bessie Wallis "Wally" Simpson, the married woman (twice, in fact) who has set her sights on the then Prince of Wales. Through Maybell's American patricianism, Graham (The Future Homemakers of America) skewers the tedious royal family and their aristocratic hangers-on. Maybell's self-absorption and dim-wittedness make her endearing at odd moments (as when she learns that her other sister, "Doopie," is deaf rather than mentally handicapped); her chatty tone is grating when the action-primarily Wally's plotting, conquest and royal assumption-slows. Graham depicts the abdication as a kind of bedroom farce and uses Maybell's ignorance to add ambiguity to the controversial relationship of the duke (as he is known after abdication) and Wally to the Nazi regime. As WWII becomes imminent, the leisured friends must make a run for it, and the partings are not all amicable. This light romp through sordid territory is sly, gossipy fun. (Aug.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.