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themelleh 's review for:
The Socialites
by Caroline Lamond
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’d like to thank Netgalley, the publishers and Caroline Lamond for this e-ARC. This review is unbiased and 100% my own.
The Socialites tells the stories of three of The Convent of the Sacred Heart girl:s Vivien Hartley, Maureen O’Sullivan and Sonia Brownell. We first meet them as little girls, sent from India and Ireland amongst other places. We follow them from little girls in Roehampton, through to their late teens, marriages, love affairs and the ups and downs of their careers.
Vivien Hartley is of course the beautiful but tortured Vivien Leigh, star of Gone with the Wind.
Maureen O’Sullivan is Jane in the 1930s series of Tarzan films and mother of Mia Farrow, considered on of Ireland’s best actresses.
And, Sonia Browning married George Orwell, becoming Sonia Orwell. She cared for his estate and ensured his letters and essays were published.
While Caroline Lamond has obviously taken creative liberties, she certainly knows enough to give us a snapshot into these three women’s lives. And I am more the better for it, so thank you. And finally, thank you for the careful, sensitivity to Vivien’s bipolar disorder. (It also feels very odd to be finishing this book the same day they announced Dame Joan Plowright's death 😔).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War