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  • Queen Bees

  • Six Brilliant and Extraordinary Society Hostesses Between the Wars - A Spectacle of Celebrity, Talent, and Burning Ambition
  • By: Siân Evans
  • Narrated by: Carole Boyd
  • Length: 12 hrs
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)

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Queen Bees

By: Siân Evans
Narrated by: Carole Boyd
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Publisher's Summary

Queen Bees looks at the lives of six remarkable women who made careers out of being society hostesses, including Lady Astor, who went on to become the first female MP, and Mrs Greville, who cultivated relationships with Edward VII, as well as Lady Londonderry, Lady Cunard, Laura Corrigan and Lady Colefax.

Told with wit, verve and heart, Queen Bees is the story of a form of societal revolution and the extraordinary women who helped it happen.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the previously strict hierarchies of the British class system were weakened. For a number of ambitious, spirited women, this was the chance they needed to slip through the cracks and take their place at the top of society as the great hostesses of the time. In an age when the place of women was uncertain, becoming a hostess was not a chore but a career choice, and though some of the hostesses' backgrounds were surprisingly humble, their aspirations were anything but.

During the interwar years, these extraordinary women ruled over London society from their dining tables and salons - entertaining everyone from the Mosleys to the Mitfords, from millionaires to maharajas, from film stars to royalty - and their influence can still be felt today.

©2016 Siân Evans (P)2016 John Murray Press

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Ho hum

Objectively I guess this book warrants five stars for its research, spicy tidbits, eccentric characters, and general insight into the lives of the obscenely rich and privileged (mostly) in the UK. Carole Boyd is excellent - right voice, right accent, and right tone which conveys the spicy gossipy tone which permeates each chapter. But subjectively I found it less interesting as it went along; tales of ordinary people with all the good and bad qualities most of us possess with the only feature to differentiate them from us being their social circle which admits pretty much anyone with the right amount in assets. I bailed out with a couple of hours to go, more important people and events to read about.

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