From Publishers Weekly
In 1902, Marthe Lavohary, a 16-year-old beauty, was married in Bucharest to Prince George Bibesco, the thoroughly spoiled and selfish son of the hereditary hospodar?governor?of Wallachia. Her devastating wedding night left her "obliterated." Although she would have many lovers, her relationships were more romantic, even intellectual, than physical. Spending her days far apart from Prince George, Marthe became a cosmopolitan socialite and notable author, with her base in Paris and her ancestral home, to which she repaired regularly, in Romania. Her admirers included a king of Spain, a crown prince of Germany, a British prime minister and a premier of France. Her books, written in French, won prizes and were the envy of rivals whose reputations have outlasted her own. Her now-forgotten potboiling novels, penned under pseudonyms when she needed money, were bestsellers. Witness to two world wars and writing until the end, she died in Paris at 87, nearly destitute. Yet her biography reads now like a faded operetta without music, and Sutherland (Maria Walewska) makes only a feeble attempt to breathe life into Princess Bibesco's writings. Sixty-five volumes of her gossipy manuscript diaries survive, along with such books as the travel memoir The Eight Paradises and the evocative Isvor: The Land of the Willow, about her province and its people. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This first English-language biography of Romanian aristocrat and author Marthe Bibesco (1886-1973) reads like a historical romance. Blessed with both seductive beauty and intelligence, the cosmopolitan Princess Bibesco, who wrote in French, was an acclaimed and prolific writer who frequented elite European literary circles. Her sense of decorum and instinct for politics made her a favorite of kings, statesmen, and military officers, many of whom fell in love with her. Enduring the hardships of the two world wars, she witnessed the fall of Europe's monarchies and the rise of the Communist regime in Romania. Much of Sutherland's (Monica, Heroine of the Danish Resistance, LJ 6/15/90) knowledge of this early, rich, and famous globetrotter is based on Bibesco's diaries, resulting in an uncritical and highly flattering portrayal. Still, the glamorized exploits of a brave and beautiful real-life heroine do "enchant" and, like a made-for-TV miniseries, will keep readers up late at night. Recommended for general readers interested in European history and culture and feminist biography.
Carol McAllister, Coll. of William & Mary Lib., Williamsburg, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Carol McAllister, Coll. of William & Mary Lib., Williamsburg, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
