Reviews

'In his first book, Mr Eade has uncovered a mine of marvellous material and handles it all with consummate wit and style. Indeed, this is a dazzling debut, and I could not recommend it more highly as the perfect summer holiday read. Virtually every page contains a delicious anecdote, eccentric character or subtle aside to savour.' Hugh Massingberd, Country Life

'An enthralling study of an extraordinary woman . . .reads like a thriller . . .it is wonderfully written' Joanna Lumley

'An incredible story' Daily Mail

'Amazing and hilarious' Christopher Foyle, Daily Express

'Philip Eade is eminently readable, with a detective's pertinacity at finding the clues to forgotten secrets and a raconteur's gift for sustaining his narrative interest. ......There is all the atmosphere of a Somerset Maugham short story in his tales of Sunday swimming parties in Sarawak with their enormous gin slings and even more enormous curries. His own high spirits and cheerful intelligence turn [this] story into a rollicking good read.' Richard Davenport-Hines, Sunday Telegraph

'The kind of gift subject that biographers must dream of . . Colourful anecdotes of eccentricity, lunacy and infidelity crowd every page.' Christopher Hart, Books of the Year, Sunday Times

'It is a brave man who keeps company with Sylvia Brooke, the extraordinary Ranee of Sarawak. But in Philip Eade this 'most charming of despots' has met her match. He is a natural writer: percipient, sympathetic, amusing . . .those who have never heard of Sylvia Brooke are in for a treat.' Michael Holroyd

'A thorough, fascinating and rather giddying book . . . sensational' Lynne Truss, Sunday Times

'The unbelievable story of the outlandish last Ranee of Sarawak was the most gripping biography of 2007; stylish, funny, poignant, crammed with eccentrics, it may yet be a slow-burn bestseller' Bartle Bull, Books of the Year, Prospect

'A scrupulous researcher . . . .he writes with panache. This colourful book is his first. I am sure other fine volumes will follow.' Sara Wheeler, Daily Telegraph

'Philip Eade's stylish narrative never flags, nor his command of humour and irony. It is an altogether memorable work, the first I hope of many.' Kenneth Rose

'Eade used to work for the obituaries section of the Telegraph which has has long been an excellent source of material for those interested in batty old toffs clinging to the edge of empire . . . there is no denying the technical accomplishment of [his] book - all the more remarkable because it is his first'. Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

'Traces this tangled tale with diligence, humour and an easy style . . . . For the the true story read Philip Eade.' Christopher Esher, Spectator

'Juicily entertaining . . . an exceptional life, one to which Eade does rich justice.' Miranda Seymour, Mail on Sunday

'Jaw-dropping . . . If you thought White Mischief the last word in English expatriate decadence, you haven't yet met Sylvia and the Brookes.' The Times

'Sylvia Brooke should have been an extra Mitford sister, such was the eccentricity and scandal of her life. . . .it is a measure of [Eade's] skill as much as the character of his subject that her remorseless White Mischief-style high-jinks don't pall. It's all highly entertaining.' The First Post

'Luridly colourful . . . an entertaining peep-show view of the British ruling class at the end of the Imperial age' Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary Supplement

'Outrage and eccentricity are things Eade does very well indeed' David McLaurin, The Tablet

'A quite remarkable life . . . .if it hadn't actually happened, you wouldn't and couldn't have made it up' Western Morning News

'Richly entertaining' Irish Times

'Eade adroitly handles both the tragic and the comic . . . certainly entertains' BBC History Magazine

'A fine example of an exceptionally exotic life . . . .well-researched and readable' New Camden Journal