The Queen of Romance Marguerite Jervis A Biography by Liz Jones #Review

 

I am delighted to be on the blog tour to showcase the first biography written by Liz Jones about the author, Marguerite Jervis, entitled The Queen of Romance, Marguerite Jervis A Biography. 

The first biography of the bestselling author and journalist Marguerite Jervis

Daughter of an officer of the Indian Medical Corps, MargueriteFlorence Laura Jarvis (1886 – 1964) was born inBurma andbecame one of the most successful novelists of her time. 

During the course of her 60-year career, Marguerite published over150 books, with 11 novels adapted for film, including The PleasureGarden (1925), the directorial debut of Alfred Hitchcock. In herheyday she sold hundreds of thousands of novels, but is nowlargely forgotten; under numerous pseudonyms she wrote fornewspapers, women’s magazines and the silent movie screen; shemarried one of Wales most controversial literary figures, CaradocEvans. She also trained as an actress and was a theatricalimpresario. Known variously as Mrs Caradoc Evans, OliverSandys, Countess Barcynska and many other pseudonyms, whowas she really?

Liz Jones has dug deep beneath the tale told in Marguerite Jervis’s own somewhat romanticised memoir to reveal what made this driven and determined woman. And what turned her from a spoilt child of the English middle classes to a workaholic who could turn her hand to any literary endeavour and who became a runaway popular success during the most turbulent years of the 20th century.

This lively and compelling biography... lays bare the tragedy of a woman whose prodigious output and determination to live life to the full camouflaged repeated exploitation by the men in her life. 

                                             Angela V. John, biographer and historian

 

My Thoughts

 It was fascinating to read about such a prolific author and to realise that I had never heard of her. The list of her books at the end of the book is astounding! As a person, she did not disappoint. Writing under several pseudonyms, Marguerite incorporated into her 'women's fiction' the extraordinary people she met in her varied life and did not care if they recognised themselves. She portrayed them warts and all. It was amazing to realise that she lies in an unmarked grave in Wales. She seems to have been an amalgam of independence and dependence on the men in her life. What seems clear is that some used her talent for their own gain. She was exploited and yet carried on with her creative output through it all.

    This is such a readable biography and so well researched. It gives you a flavour of her colourful personality and takes you from her early life in vibrant India through to her more sombre later years. You also see the twentieth century reflected in her life story, especially through the attitudes to women within work and marriage. She lived at terms unconventionally but always nurtured creativity in those she met. Her romance novels contained some difficult themes but she had a loyal following in her readership. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Marguerite in the page s of this book. A book about a storyteller- how appropriate. 

About the Author

Liz Jones writes drama and creative non-fiction, reviews, short stories and journalism ranging from Take a Break to New Welsh Review. Along the way she has raised two daughters, tried to change the world, worked in a café-cum-bookshop, a housing association, in community development and lifelong learning. She is now a Teaching Fellow at Aberystwyth University.

You can follow Liz here: Twitter

Book links: Amazon UK

Thanks to Liz Jones, Honno Press and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a copy pf the book and a place on the tour. 

 

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