“Pamela Berry was a child of the 1920s, a glittering It Girl who soared in the 30s from one famous self-made family, married into another, became a Fleet Street hostess and stirrer of the political pot, a scourge of Tory leaders, a passionate lover, and a figurehead of British fashion. This book is more than a rich and searching portrait of a mother, it is a vivid piece of social history. I wanted more.” – Lady Antonia Fraser“Harriet Cullen has written this stunning biography. She has achieved a balance between intimate knowledge and the dispassionate presentation of her mother’s life. Readers have a huge treat in store.” – Hugo Vickers“Lively, name-droppy biography... Pamela couldn’t resist being at the centre of political and cultural intrigues. Her lunch and dinner parties were certainly never dull.” – Ysenda Maxtone Grahame, Mail on Sunday“A fascinating story - of someone who grew up spoilt, good looking, forceful, privy to many secrets and attractive to men.”– Anne de Courcy, The Spectator“The author of this supremely elegantly-written and fondly presented biography is Harriet Cullen, one of Lady Pamela’s two remaining children. Unlike a conventional biography, it has the lightest touch, often seeming – as Cullen has a masterful memory for situations and conversations – to read like her diary.” – Nicky Haslam, The Oldie“It is a gripping, friendly but quite critical account of the dar-haired, beautiful, angry, (“gypsy blood” was spoken of), clever, undereducated and overprivileged woman who had modelled for Chanel her famous “little black dress”.” – Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph“[The author] omits nothing and shows how ghastly it was to be a child of a grande dame. ... Berry surfed a life rather than living it, as was probably inevitable for a clever, rich woman in the mid-20th century. ... Cullen tells a story that will delight...for I devoured the book.” – Max Hastings, The Sunday Times“She was glamourous in the extreme... and she was keen to exploit her charm in the world of politics. ... It is neither hagiography nor Mommie Dearest-style revenge... a treat best kept until after Lent.” – Allan Mallinson, Country Life“the strength of the book is the powerful, sometimes moving, portrayal of its subject as a person, a controlling woman, who was loyal to her widowed mother but unfaithful to her tolerant, quiet husband as mistress of Malcolm Muggeridge. She neglected her four children, one of whom has now told her story with candour and understanding.”– Charles Lysaght“Harriet Cullen writes with the endearing gusto that was so characteristic of her restless mother in all aspects of her life.” – Lord Lexden, The House"magnificently worked biography... It’s a character not entirely lovable but piquant, teased skilfully out of a mass of incident and research by a wise daughter-biographer."– Libby Purves, Times Literary Supplement"Cullen has produced one of the most compelling and finely-written biographies of recent times. She has the good fortune not merely to have a Technicolor subject, but also a glittering cast of supporting characters, from Nancy Mitford to Lord Beaverbrook. ... she has created a truly fine biography – and an object lesson in how to do it properly." – Stephen Heffer, The Telegraph
