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Matthew Sweet

West End Front: The Wartime Secrets of London's Grand Hotels Hardcover – November 1, 2011

by Matthew Sweet (Author)

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The West End Front: The Wartime Secrets of London's Grand Hotels

Print length

362 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Faber & Faber
Publication date

November 1, 2011
Dimensions

6.34 x 1.3 x 9.45 inches
ISBN-10

0571234771
ISBN-13

978-0571234776
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Chips Channon
325
Hardcover
13 offers from $43.25

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber; 1st Edition (November 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 362 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0571234771
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571234776
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.44 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.34 x 1.3 x 9.45 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,184,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
59 ratings

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Matthew Sweet

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Customer reviews

5 star		55%
4 star		24%
3 star		14%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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West End Front

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2021

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This is a highly engaging book about London's wartime hotels and the various spies, experiences and various characters in this fun book.

Helpful

Rudi Franke

It's nice to have money, even if it's ill gotten!

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2013

Verified Purchase

An astonishing look into the occupants at some of the posh hotels in London during the war years. A bit fragmented as it discusses a number of anecdotal situations but most of it very amusing. I especially liked to lengthy coverage of the beautiful nymphomaniac/spy whom I looked up on my iPad where I found a few photos of her. To fully comprehend the text you have to have been born and living in London to understand the colloquialisms used. There were a lot of royals and other shady characters hiding out under luxurious conditions in London, read up on these goings-on, don't miss out on the fun!

2 people found this helpful

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Marcia Leonhardt

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2017

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Interesting pre WWWII politics and gossip

2 people found this helpful

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R. Martinez

That history can be made in a lot of different places

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2018

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Very interesting subject.

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2017

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Totally fascinating untold story of secret wartime London. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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Linda H. Francis

Great book for the Anglophile.

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2013

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This book was on my sister's holiday hint list. She was most pleased and excited to get it and is almost finished reading it.

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016

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great

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2012

This book looks at the wartime secrets of London's grand hotels, such as the Ritz, the Dorchester and the Waldorf. It begins very well, with Victor Legg, a phone operator at the Ritz eavesdropping on a call to Randolph Churchill informing him that Germans are to bomb Poland that morning. When Legg tries to tell a friend at the BBC about the impending war, he is interrupted by a voice telling him to be careful what he repeats. Legg, who spent half a century working at the Ritz, spends the night in London - the only man outside of the government who knows war is about to be declared.

The author then leads us through many different elements of hotels during wartime. They housed not only those from the government, but deposed royalty, spies, military leaders, governments in exile, writers, artists, musicians, prostitutes and homosexuals. They were a hotbed of suspicion, interrogations, decadence and wealth. Sweet sometimes stretches the link between hotels and characters too far, in order to unravel an interesting story, but overall this is an excellent read.

There is the story of hotel workers, many of whom were Italian, who were arrested and interned despite being British citizens and working in the UK for over twenty years. Although the original plan had been to distinguish between citzens of enemy countries who were a danger to the British state and those who posed no threat, apparently Churchill decided it was safer to "collar the lot!" One of the most interesting events was when demonstrators invaded the Ritz, asking for shelter - a situation which led the government to open the underground and allow people to have somewhere to go during air raids. London's hotels were a locus of resentment, with the privilege of safe underground shelters and good food being available to the few and not the many.

Many of the stories are sad - girls who died of botched abortions, for example. Many are funny - one lady who was interrogated as a possible Nazi spy had such a filthy mind and language that interrogators failed to report on much of her conversation, describing it as having such a "filthy nature" that it was unrepeatable! Overall, this is a very entertaining and interesting account of London during the war. Not the typical war stories, but of the characters which made up a more decadent section of Society, where socialites defied Hitler by 'lunching for England' and the wealthy clung to their privileged world against all the odds. Lastly, I read the kindle edition of this book and the illustrations were included.

One person found this helpful

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T. P. Cross

West End Girls (And Boys)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2018

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This is the third Matthew Sweet book I have read and is as interesting and well-written as the previous two. Like those, it teases out the forgotten - or mythical - history of a period or place. In this case the luxury hotels of London's West End.

There are stories of the straight and the gay, men and women, heroes and traitors and Kings and Communists. Class matters in this book. Each chapter deals with a particular subject and is well-researched, including interviews with people who were involved in the events he is describing.

He's good at reminding us in some chapters about the darker aspects of what happened in the hotels, such as murders and illegal abortions. The chapter that is mainly about Stella Lonsdale is particularly good at trying to find out what was really going on behind her story and reminding us of the cost of her - possible - betrayal.

Also, it is always good to find a book about World War Two that doesn't skirt the fact that there was a lot of sex going on. I laughed at this quote, " They were rehearsing in a hotel ballroom when Churchill declared Victory in Europe. It was a raucous, joyous, unforgettable evening: the ships' sirens brayed and hooted all night in Southampton Water. Joyce woke up on the first morning of the peace and watched the gardener picking discarded condoms from the rose bushes." You don't get scenes like that in most films and television about World War Two do you?

Great fun to read and packed full of stories waiting to be expanded on.

3 people found this helpful

Junius46

An alternative view of life in luxury London in the War

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2017

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This is a wonderful book about the alternative lives lived in the Second World War by those occupying West End Hotels. The contrast between those suffering the deprivations and rationing of war in the general populace, and those able to afford to stay in these "palaces" is marked, and stories such as the march by the working class into the kitchens of the Savoy as a protest were entirely new to me. Much of Europe's minor royalty, displaced by the war, seem to have occupied suites in the larger London hotels at some time during the conflict. There are also stories about the seamier side of wartime life with abortions being carried out in hotel rooms, and some very shady lives. And yet the imminence of bombing raids on Central London, shows that the largely fortunate occupants lived for today in the same way as ordinary people, but with greater opportunities. A fascinating insight into an alternate life style, and proof that we were not "all in it together".

Amazon Customer

Society at play during War Time.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2019

Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.I have a particular interest in this period so places/names rang bells and found myself being nicely transported back in time. The book certainly held my attention.

Whitelight

Fascinating!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2021

Verified Purchase

A glimpse into the mad world of WW2 high society. A wonderful resource and a research book that has been added to the WW2 shelf without hesitation.

Amazon Customer

TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2016

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A country under seige; a capital enduring almost nightly blitz. Armed service or civilian were in this total war together & with nothing certain for tomorrow, morals were the least of troubles.
A fascinating cast of exotic characters inhabit London's battered streets ___ you couldn't make it up. You will not want to put this book down either.

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West End Front: The Wartime Secrets of London's Grand Hotels Hardcover – November 1, 2011

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Matthew Sweet

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