A lively chronicle of an eventful life told with style and rigor.
A biography of Gertrude Sanford Legendre, a wealthy socialite–turned–World War II spy.
Legendre was born in 1902 to an “ultra-wealthy family” in Aiken, South Carolina, and enjoyed an enviably privileged youth. However, she always yearned for adventure—a desire that biographer Smith (co-author: Eleanor Roosevelt Goes to Prison, 2019, etc.) stirringly depicts in these pages. In particular, Legendre developed a youthful “obsession with big game hunting,” according to Smith, shortly after graduating high school, and she traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, on a hunting expedition, during which she killed five lions. She later traveled to Ethiopia with the aim of bringing back an African antelope, the mountain nyala, for New York’s American Museum of Natural History—a mission she accomplished. During the halcyon days of the 1920s, she indulged in some “serious partying,” as the author puts it, on the French Riviera, but her life would take a dramatic turn during World War II. She was recruited to work for the American Office of the Coordinator of Information, the organizational precursor to the Office of Strategic Services, which eventually became the Central Intelligence Agency. She worked long hours at a cable desk in Washington, D.C., before being transferred to London, and she “reveled in being in the thick of war activity,” writes Smith. While on leave in Paris, she longed to get closer to the action and irresponsibly took a “joy ride” in enemy territory and was captured by German soldiers in Luxembourg. The dramatic crescendo of Smith’s action-packed portrait is Legendre’s daring escape from her captors across the Swiss border, and it’s a sequence of events worthy of a feature film. It’s clear that the author is enchanted by her subject, but she manages to avoid hagiography; for example, she includes evidence that Legendre didn’t get along well with her children. Still, for all her shortcomings, the book makes clear that she was a redoubtable force. As Smith puts it, Legendre truly “bucked many of the constraints of proper society that strait-jacketed so many of her female peers.”
A lively chronicle of an eventful life told with style and rigor.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-929647-44-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: Evening Post Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
