Reviews

The Duchess of Jermyn Street by Daphne Fielding, Evelyn Waugh

tessisreading2's review against another edition

3.0

Chatty "biography" of Rosa Lewis, the Edwardian cook/hotel proprietor who was known as "the duchess of Jermyn Street." An interesting read, but Fielding gets distracted by lengthy (multi-page) biographies/descriptions of hotel guests and upper-class friends and acquaintances of Rosa's - those are the people Fielding knew and it's generally through their eyes (and her own) that she shows Rosa. This can be fairly annoying. There is also an emphasis on the later period of Rosa's life, again because those are the people Fielding knew, or who can be reached for comment on Rosa; the Edwardian period is kind of gauzy and vaguely described (which makes sense since Rosa seems to have been, among her other skills, an inveterate liar) but the fun details and information really comes when describing the '20s and up. One doesn't get much of a sense of Rosa, to be honest, but the Bright Young Things of the period and their various antics do come alive, with Rosa as kind of a background figure.

komet2020's review against another edition

4.0

Here's a rich and concise biography of Rosa Lewis (1867-1952), a determined and resourceful woman of humble means, who became one of the top chefs de cuisine of her time and the owner of the famous Cavendish Hotel in London. This book carries the reader from the Victorian through the Edwardian Eras and onto the early post-World War II period. It was very entertaining and is full of remembrances from people who knew Rosa, who was quite a character, a woman who knew her own mind and never minced words.

sarahsponda's review

3.0

There was a lot of name-dropping I missed out on, but this was entertaining.

mercourier's review

3.0

Meh. I picked this up because I love the BBC show Duchess of Duke Street. This read like a social roster of who stayed at the hotel and what they wore Rather than a history of Rosa Lewis. Other than a couple of well known facts.