Queen Bees

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What to expect

'ENORMOUS FUN' GUARDIAN
'SO ENTERTAINING' THE TIMES
'GOSSIPY, LIGHT AND FUN' TLS

Queen Bees looks at the lives of six remarkable women who made careers out of being society hostesses, including Lady Astor, who went on to become the first female MP, and Mrs Greville, who cultivated relationships with Edward VII, as well as Lady Londonderry, Lady Cunard, Laura Corrigan and Lady Colefax. Written with wit, verve and heart, Queen Bees is the story of a form of societal revolution, and the extraordinary women who helped it happen.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the previously strict hierarchies of the British class system were weakened. For a number of ambitious, spirited women, this was the chance they needed to slip through the cracks and take their place at the top of society as the great hostesses of the time. In an age when the place of women was uncertain, becoming a hostess was not a chore, but a career choice, and though some of the hostesses' backgrounds were surprisingly humble, their aspirations were anything but. During the inter-war years these extraordinary women ruled over London society from their dining tables and salons - entertaining everyone from the Mosleys to the Mitfords, from millionaires to maharajahs, from film stars to royalty - and their influence can still be felt today.

(P)2016 John Murray Press

Critics Review

  • So entertaining – and there’s lots of insider fun to be had… Excels at anecdotes and punchlines… The strength of Queen Bees is its wealth of detail and its author’s nose for a human story… This book dances in and out of its subject to the sound of plate-smashing, cut-glass gossip, ukeleles, Beecham’s orchestras, jazz bands, Nazi anthems and bombs. “I’ve been to a marvellous party,” wrote Noël Coward. Thanks to Queen Bees, we can feel as though we were there too.

    The Times

  • The book, like their parties, is often “enormous fun”

    Guardian

  • Delightful… Crammed with fascinating anecdotes

    Independent

  • If guest lists and gossip columns, invitations and address books, seating plans and social mountaineering tick your box, this is the book for you.

    The Times

  • Rich in anecdote… a fascinating account… Group biography is a difficult trick to pull off, but Evans is deft with her interweaving of narrative and history…

    The Sunday Times

  • This is a whirl of a book, gossipy, light and fun

    Times Literary Supplement

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