Full of gossip, scandal, sex and royalty, I had really high hopes for this book. And though it was a good book, it wasn't a great book. It was just missing something.
It's the story of Alice Keppel, "official" mistress to King Edward and her daughter, who had quite the passionate love affair with Vita Sackville-West, among others.
With the scandal and the passionate love letters and the sham marriages, you would think this would be quite the page turner. It sorta was. I think what was missing for me was more on the flexible sexual conventions of the day. Oscar Wilde and his trial is mentioned, but only briefly. I wanted to know more about a society that knew exactly what was going on, officially didn't approve, but still accepted these women--and enjoyed their company. The whole book lacked context--and when understanding the attitudes towards homosexuality in the early part of last century, that's something you really need.