Review: Telling Tales by Penny Perrick

About the Book

 

Telling Tales

The Fabulous Lives of Anita Leslie

by Penny Perrick

Description

The poignant biography of Anita Leslie, the only woman to have won the Croix de Guerre and the Africa Star in WWII.

Anita Leslie (1914-85), best known for the popular biographies of her extraordinary relatives, including Jennie Churchill (Winston's mother) and sculptor Clare Sheridan, was also a most unlikely war heroine. In 1940 Anita volunteered for active service, and by the end of the war she had been awarded the Croix de Guerre for outstanding bravery on the battlefield in France.

While Anita always insisted that everything was "delightful and amusing," her life after the war was clouded by destructive love affairs, depression, and domestic and financial chaos.

This revealing biography describes the complex character behind the sunny facade she was at pains to project. Drawing on copious correspondence, Penny Perrick brings to life Anita's true anguished self: the intense joy she took in her children, her passionate love of Ireland, her career as a writer and the dramatic family squabbling that resulted from the muddled management of the Castle Leslie. Telling Tales is a scintillating and poignant account of this flamboyant woman.

Penny Perrick, who lived for many years in the west of Ireland, was a fashion editor for Vogue, a columnist on the Sun and The Times and a fiction editor for the Sunday Times. She is also a novelist and the author of Something to Hide, a biography of the poet Sheila Wingfield. Penny lives in London.

Review

Penny Perrick has written biography of Anita Leslie named Telling Tales. Penny Perrick beautifully illustrates the life of a flawed woman. Actually, the many lives of this flawed woman. This was an interesting and sometimes not so interesting read. I am back to reading after a while so I was expecting every book to be cool and interesting. This book at some points bored me. 

But then maybe that's what biographies do.

Overall, it was knowledgeable and interesting.

Do I Recommend It?

It depends. If you are looking for a book that is interesting and keeps your interest till the end, then this might not be for you. But if you love biographies and memoirs, then it's for you!!

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