One of Lesley Blanch’s drawings
Georgia de Chamberet has been an editor and a translator in London for many years. Since her godmother, the romantic writer and adventuress Lesley Blanch, died in 2007, Chamberet has never stopped looking for unpublished manuscripts and drawings in the numerous cases of documents she inherited from her. The result is this new book published by Virago in London « On the Wilder shores of love, A bohemian life ».
For the French, Lesley is mostly famous for having been married to twice Goncourt Prize winner Romain Gary and for sharing his crazy and short diplomatic life in California and Venice. But in Great Britain, she had a career as features editor of British Vogue from 1935 on, and during World War II. She wrote about Chagall and Noël Coward, Sacha Guitry and Elia Kazan, assisting Cecil Beaton in the studio. Subsequently and after her divorce from Gary, she became an avid traveller to Siberia, Turkey, Egypt and Afghanistan where she went for the Sunday Times. Those were her « Years of the Minarets ». Her most famous work, « The Wilder shores of love » has never been out of print since its publication in 1954 and inspired such diverse artists as Marianne Faithfull and Cy Twombly.
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Blanch who was an artist in her own right, started collecting when she was 7. Her first buy was a wooden box painted with tigers and roses where she kept her sweets…
The book subtitled, a Bohemian Life, is a wonderful evocation of a time when being an adventurous lady-of-the-world was still fun ! Four hundred pages that lead you into a dreamy life.
Georgia, age 4, with her godmother
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4 Comments on “A goddaughter’s tribute”
Dear Laure, your blog is an absolute delight ! Each one of your five reviews is brilliant , different, exciting and witty . I love it ! Thank you for sharing – in such a fun way – the best of what you have seen, read, tasted and felt, everywhere in the world…
Alexandra Lapierre
Three weeks and I’m addicted!
keep on, I feel I am always missing something and thanks to you I can lead a vicarious life by proxy!
Dearest Laure,
Love your idea of the blog and will definitely pop out to buy the book. So you!
Hope all is well.
Paula xx
Cara Laure,
Your blog is a delight to read and has become a necessary part of my day.
Your impeccable eye and spirited commentary animate everything you experience.
Infinite thanks for bringing your spirit into all of our lives on a daily basis.
Abbracci,
Maria