Autobiografie van de Engelse schrijfster en society figuur.

My mum lent me a copy of Violet Trefusis' charmingly illustrated memoir, which is an entertaining glimpse into another world. It reminded me of an article I read in the London Review of Books about how the aristocracy functioned as a pan-European diplomatic corps of varying competence prior to, and to a lesser extent after, the First World War. In this book, we find that Violet gets a personal audience with Mussolini shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, simply because she is a well-bred Englishwoman with contacts. Her upbringing seems totally extraordinary - as a child, her parents believe she isn't thriving in England, so send her to France, then Spain, then further East (I think to Singapore? I'm writing this without the actual book in front of me). She recounts her life in terms of journeys, beautiful buildings, and encounters with the rich and famous. There is never a sense of lacking money or opportunity, only the temporary inaccessibility of one or the other. It could easily have been an obnoxious narrative, but Trefusis has sufficient self-deprecation and sense of the absurd to avoid this peril. Indeed, she remains something of a mystery in her own story, as she devotes such a lot of time to pen portraits of her friends, family, and lovers. Her turns of phrase are often brilliant - I am particularly fond of her description of Tudor houses as 'like living under the furniture' (I paraphrase). This is incredibly accurate, from my experience of growing up in timber framed cottages. Although the tone is mostly frivolous, or at least chatty and anecdotal, her bond with her mother is movingly depicted. She reveals most of herself when discussing her love of living in France and her sadness at having to leave during WWII, I think. 'Don't Look Round' (which is presumably named ironically) rather resembles a historic chronicle, more of interest for what it says about the time than what it says about the writer. I hesitated between giving it three or four stars, then erred on the side of generosity because I was entertained by the writing and delighted by the illustrations. ( )