Gone With the Windsors

Gone With the Windsors
Laurie Graham

The hilarious and touching novel from Laurie Graham – the fictional diary of the Queen’s best friend in pre-war London.Laurie Graham's brilliant novel is the fictional diary of Maybell Brumby, a wealthy American widow who arrives in London in 1932 and discovers that an old school friend is in town: Bessie Wallis Warfield, now Mrs Ernest Simpson. Maybell and Wally are made for one another. One has money and a foothold in high society, courtesy of a sister who married well. The other has ruthless ambition and enough energy to power the National Grid. Before the year is out, Wally has begun her seduction of the Prince of Wales, and as she clambers towards the throne she makes sure Maybell and her cheque book are always close at hand.So Maybell becomes an eye-witness to the Abdication Crisis. From her perch in Carlton Gardens, home of her influential brother-in-law Lord Melhuish, she has the perfect vantage point for observing the anxious, changing allegiances for and against Queen Wally, and the political contours of pre-war London.When the crisis comes and Wally flees to the south of France, she insists on Maybell going with her. 'Are you sure that's advisable, darling?' asks the King. 'Of course it is,' snaps Wally. 'She's the Paymaster General.' Maybell's diary records the marriage, the Windsors' exile, and the changing complexion of the Greatest Love Story. It takes the sound of German jackboots at the gate and personal tragedy to make her close its pages for the last time.

LAURIE GRAHAM

Gone With the Windsors

Copyright (#ulink_5ebfc2ee-d630-5566-b871-8fbc4e3c7bcb)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

Copyright © Laurie Graham 2005

Laurie Graham asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover illustration © Rachel Ross

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007146765

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007369836

Version: 2017-03-30

Praise (#ulink_ebb82ce5-922a-5239-8a23-88bb6e23a762)

From the reviews of Gone with the Windsors:

‘Graham succeeds in crystallising the lives of a social set whose raison d’être was the next poolside gin-fizz. Alongside le tout Baltimore, we await to see how far Wallis will jeopardise her hard-won security with Ernest for the title of “Queen of Nowhere”. It’s a testament to Graham’s pitch-perfect storytelling that we care’

Independent

‘Graham’s sunny control makes the abdication crisis sound as fresh and tangy as Wally’s favourite dinner party dessert, strawberry sherbet. Maybell Brumby is a wonderful, sassy creation: not exactly one of your heart-of-gold heroines, but, more entertainingly, one with a heart of gilt’

Sunday Times

‘With an enviable sleight of hand, Laurie Graham affectionately impales her hilariously oblivious heroine. I ate this book right up’

MARY GUTERSON, author of We Are All Fine Here

‘[An] absolute pleasure to read from start to finish … Wryly observed secondary characters are also a joy … 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’

Time Out

‘Laugh-out-loud funny’

Daily Telegraph

‘Refreshing, honest and very funny … enjoyable without being thoughtless, smart without being superficial’

Scotsman

‘Maybell Brumby is a marvellous comic creation’

Scotland on Sunday

‘Laurie Graham is such a vivid, creative storyteller’

TLS

Dedication (#ulink_c87d5af2-87bc-5e6b-8b2e-a47d48de47d6)

To Howard

Contents

Cover (#u15ebf622-2a02-5587-8620-2a653fdaa1fd)

Title Page (#u19b226b2-e17f-5b85-b8f9-84e4b4137f35)

Copyright (#u052592af-511c-5b1b-a41e-68ca0e2d531d)

Praise (#ucd93e7c0-5e22-562a-9149-6daa12c9a923)

Dedication (#u4952aaad-de63-5a9a-afde-916e965cf20d)

10th March 1932, Sweet Air, Baltimore (#uda692f60-14e4-5e25-a2ed-5433138ad955)

1st January 1933 (#u6db920fc-3ace-5c8f-ba7f-7545468d4ebd)

1st January 1934 (#litres_trial_promo)

1st January 1935 (#litres_trial_promo)

2nd January 1936, Wilton Place (#litres_trial_promo)

1st January 1937 (#litres_trial_promo)

2nd January 1938 (#litres_trial_promo)