A Funny Thing Happened On The Way

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What to expect

The superb classic memoir from a dazzlingly eccentric and endlessly fascinating author and feminist icon – a woman very much ahead of her time – including her time spent on the glorious island of Skiathos

‘A happy, hilarious book’ Daily Express

Nancy Spain was one of the most celebrated – and notorious – writers and broadcasters of the 50s and 60s. Witty, controversial and brilliant, she lived openly as a lesbian (sharing a household with her two lovers and their various children) and was frequently litigated against for her newspaper columns – Evelyn Waugh successfully sued her for libel… twice.

Nancy Spain had a deep love of the Mediterranean. So it was no surprise when, in the 1960s, she decided to build a place of her own on the Greek island of Skiathos. With an impractical nature surpassed only by her passion for the project, and despite many obstacles, she gloriously succeeded. This classic memoir is infused with all Spain’s chaotic brilliance, zest for life and single-minded pursuit of a life worth living.

Perfect for fans of A PLACE IN THE SUN and ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY

‘Full of fun, and that zest of intelligence that never left her’ Sunday Times

Critics Review

  • Full of fun, and that zest of intelligence that never left her after she had become famous and a “name” … Sharing her own feelings of happiness was Nancy’s art and privilege, a rare one in this day and place

    SUNDAY TIMES

  • It is a happy, hilarious book … N Spain, as she liked to call herself, loved to make people laugh, very often at herself

    DAILY EXPRESS

  • Rumbustiously she rattles from childhood memories to TV gossip, anecdote, wisecrack, name-dropping and travelogue … a high-spirited projection of the admired and lamented image

    DAILY TELEGRAPH

  • Nancy’s great qualities were her zest for life and her warm, North-country heart

    TATLER

  • Have you ever read a book with this for a side-heading to a chapter: “put that angel down, you don’t know where she’s been”? No? Well, start right now

    ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS

  • A gay, generous autobiography-cum-travel book which the author finished only a few hours before her tragic last flight

    SUNDAY EXPRESS

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