Inside British politics and upper class social life in the decade before the first world war-by the daughter of the Prime Minister and Liberal leader,H H Asquith. Hitherto and revealing unpublished letters and diaries of a Prime Minister's influential daughter.
Violet Bonham Carter, the only daughter of H.H. Asquith, kept a diary from the age of 18. She moved in privileged circles with the great figures of the day and wrote revealingly about what she saw. This book contains a selection of her diaries and letters, covering the years 1914-1945.
I am blown away by Bonham Carter's intelligence and fearlessness. She was a wonderful writer and dutifully recorded every nuance of her surroundings, whether it be a dinner at Roosevelt's Whitehouse or a weekend away with the likes of Winston and Clemmie Churchill. My one big stumbling block was trying to understand the politics - there was a lot of politics! - which she absorbed with ease. She had a marvellous relationship with her father which was a standout for me. This is a big book but I thoroughly enjoyed it as an insight to a life of wealth and servants and excelling socially in every way.