Annabel: An Unconventional Life

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 941.085092 EAN: 9780753820377 ISBN: 0753820374 Label: Phoenix Manufacturer: Phoenix Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 304 Publication Date: 2005-01-01 Publisher: Phoenix Studio: Phoenix
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Editorial Reviews: The daughter of the 8th Marquess of Londonderry. The wife of Mark Birley and then Sir James Goldsmith. The name behind London's hippest, most glamorous club. Mother of Jemima Khan. In this captivating memoir, Lady Annabel Goldsmith offers readers a glimpse of her fascinating life, and what it is like to live at the heart of British society.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Great Lady, Great Read Comment: Lady Annabel Goldsmith truly captures the essence of her existence when she titles her memoir AN UNCONVENTIONAL LIFE. She is a daughter of the Londonderry family. This family ranks so high in the British nobility that, even during her marriages to two non-titled men, she retained her own title of "Lady." Of course, high-ranking British nobles who trace their families back for centuries live different lives than ordinary folks do and, certainly, Lady Annabel is no exception. She has endured a life with more than her share of personal tragedies: The horrible death of her mother when Lady A still was a schoolgirl, a child who was mauled by a wild animal, a child who died mysteriously. Through it all, she sounds as if she is an exceedingly nice person, sane and centered. Still, reading between the lines, there is no question but that by conventional standards, she definitely has led an unconventional life. There are events and people whom she, quite reasonably, takes for granted--events and people that mere mortals cannot even imagine seeing first-hand. The Coronation of the Queen was, of course, attended by most of her family. Yet since Lady A was so young then herself, she was included instead "only" for the rehearsal. Matter-of-factly, she mentions in passing wearing the Londonderry diamonds, almost as famous as the Crown Jewels, to some gala. And, decades later, the Queen's daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, regularly came to Lady Annabel's home for Sunday lunch. And so on.... Lady Annabel openly co-habitated with one man and bore him two children while married to another. She writes herself, in an aside, that she and her first husband already were enmeshed in separate lives when the second arrangement began and that, when they finally divorced, it was amicable. In the book, her sole acknowledgment that this behavior might be considered, by some, to be immoral, is to write briefly about the reaction of one of her servants to her choice. Though Lady Annabel is open about herself, the single flaw of this memoir, but a huge flaw at that, is her failure to elaborate on the energy and excitement of London in the 1960s, which was her heyday. After all, the famous club "Annabel's," which defined the era of swinging London, was named in her honor by its creator, who was her husband at the time. Lady Annabel Goldsmith has been blessed with a gilded existence, starting with her birth into one of the more important families in the world, continuing through marriages to two successful men, including a second husband who became hugely successful financially. Due to the social prominence thrust upon her by her first husband's renowned club as well as by her own elevated birth, she has known and socialized with virtually everyone who has mattered in the English-speaking world for decade after decade. Through her good times and bad, she seems to have remained a nice person. Yet in THE GREAT GATSBY, Scott Fitzgerald wrote that "the rich are different than you and me." So, too, the British nobility. Customer Rating: Summary: Personal portrait of British society, circa 1930's-1990's Comment: Reading this, I admired Annabel's easy, natural way of writing her life story. She sounds like a great person to know, too - warm and friendly, with a great heart. By no means has Annabel had a charmed life -- although she has been extremely fortunate regarding her financial situation, her various homes, and in the general good health of her children. I was a little disturbed by her dependence on men, and the importance she (I think subconsciously) has given to the men in her life, throughout her life, particularly in her involvement and eventual marriage to Jimmy Goldsmith later on. (Putting up with his constant infidelity; the importance she gave to his whims and his desires; his insistence they have children before they married, etc.) The one time, it seems, she stood up to Jimmy and put her foot down was when he tried to insist that she move their family to America, because HE was tired of being brickbatted by the media in England. (Also, apparently, because his newest mistress lived in New York!) It doesn't appear, at least to me as a reader, that JG was worth the anxiety and heartache that he undoubtedly put Annabel through -- but, I didn't know the man, and, well, Annabel's of a different generation (of women who were trained to give men the upper hand). Also, love is undoubtedly blind and dumb sometimes. There were times, reading about some of Jimmy's demands, when I wanted to tell her, "oh, just tell him to go -- himself! you'll make out fine!" I was touched when Annabel wrote about the death of her oldest son, Rupert. A real feeling of loss came through and the letter of his that she includes gives you a sense of his charm and intelligence. (He's also the one child of Annabel's who really looked a great deal like her, at least, from the photo she includes.) I admit, I'm shamelessly addicted to behind-the-scenes stories of upper-crust British society, and Annabel's life story is almost that of a heroine in one of those big, splashy novels that used to be written a few years ago: the kind that take a reader through more than a few decades of love, sex, divorce, some bad decisions, and painful loss. Customer Rating: Summary: Book - Annabel Comment: Annabel: An Unconventional Life A unique life shared without shame or too much regret. An exceptional example of living life fully with care and understanding and with deep unconditional love. A true women warrior of it's times and indeed timeless. Customer Rating: Summary: Inspiring Annabel Comment: I absolutely adored this book. I have read it twice. Although I have little in common with Annabel Goldsmith, I feel that I learned a lot from the way she has lived her life. A few thoughts, in no particular order: Despite having a title and hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank, she comes across as a truly down-to-earth, self-deprecating, and genuine person. She identifies with all types of people, and seems to be totally at peace with her position in life (not ridden with guilt) and yet you get the feeling that she has never tried to nickel and dime her staff or deny someone a tip, because she has enough class to have an understanding for working people. Also - her perspective on fidelity and relationships is fascinating. She is a woman who has always put her family and children first, yet she is far from a boring housewife. In fact, I would love to settle down with Annabel for a cozy chat some day. Customer Rating: Summary: Supberb Comment: I loved this book and believe it is not to be missed. She comes across as being a very warm being, and while most people who write their autobiographies portray themselves as being good and kind people, I prefer to give Lady Annabel the benefit of the doubt. I feel the fact that she and her first husband spontaneously decamped to Austria to help Hungarian refugees in 1956 to speak for her selflessness alone. The jaded and cynical might say this was an act of fleeting youthful idealism (Lady Annabel and first husband Mark Birley were only twenty at the time, this was fifty years ago, and her autiobiography refers to no other grand acts of altruism since), but again I prefer to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, what does it matter when and why someone does something good as long as they do it? Lady Annabel does refer to holiday homes in Spain and vacation villa's in Italy as if this something everyone can afford to do, but I think that's the point of the book, and is what makes it so interesting. More Reviews