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PARK LANE PRINCESS
Frances Osborne is the bestselling author of biographies The Bolter and Lilla’s Feast. Her latest book – and first novel – is Park Lane.
HOLIDAY READS EYE CANDY
Think your wildest wedding fantasies are pretty out there? Think again. This selection of lavish wedding photography (above), from parties designed by Ziad Raphael Nassar for the most demanding Arab bridezilla princesses, would boggle even Kate Middleton’s mind. Fountains, divans, walls of roses... it’s a modern-day Aladdin’s cave and perfect for flicking through on a sun lounger. ONCE WEDDINGS, out in July, £450, Assouline at assouline.com
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
What’s your book about? Park Lane is the story of two very different young women living on Park Lane over the First World War, whose lives become set on a collision course. It takes them from suffragette violence through the war and out into the unrecognisable world beyond. Why did you choose that era to write about? When I was researching The Bolter, the biography of one of my great-grandmothers, I became fascinated by the huge changes to women’s lives over that period: they transformed; socially, through the opportunities that opened up during the war; politically, as they campaigned for the vote; and sexually, as wartime heightened emotions.
GUILTY PLEASURE
Based on her sparkling, summery debut, Nicola Doherty deserves to join the bestsellers of the chick-lit world. Get sucked into the London life of Alice Roberts, which is going terribly wrong (horrible boss, stalling career, dumped by text...) until she’s sent to a villa in Sicily to edit the autobiography of a Hollywood hottie. Glamour, sea, sun, emotional turmoil... optimum beach reading. THE OUT OF OFFICE GIRL, out 5th July, £6.99, Headline
What do you find hardest about writing a novel? Reminding myself that the characters aren’t real. You can plan what they do in advance but, often, when you have reached a turning point in the novel, they have developed to such a stage that they do something quite different from what you expected. What’s the best part? Being able to construct a story that takes the characters through the great (real) dramas of the day.
What’s your next project? I am working on a novel set fifty years earlier, when a newly-rich family first arrives in the house in Park Lane. It is inspired by the true story of the family of the great railway builder, Thomas Brassey. Park Lane is published by Virago, £14.99
We’re sometimes at a bit of a loss when it comes to meditation, but when it’s combined with the promise of weight loss, too, our ears prick up. The Headspace Diet from meditation guru Andy Puddicombe, guides you into a calm space using clear, engaging prose that will help you manage your relationship with food in a mindful, relaxed way. THE HEADSPACE DIET, out now, £12.99, Hodder & Stoughton 16 | AMUSE
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19/06/2012 14:44