An incredible story * DAILY MAIL *
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
It's fantastic material. Well spotted, Eade. Does he do it justice? Yes . . . Alongside the complexities of colonial politics, Eade brings her loves and losses, her heights and depths, to poignant life. It's all here: the bonking, the boozing, the pathos and the bathos . . . This is a delightful book, and proof that truth is stranger than fiction -- Ross Leckie * THE TIMES *
Eade has uncovered a mine of marvellous material and handles it all with consummate wit and style . . . a dazzling debut -- Hugh Massingberd * COUNTRY LIFE *
Juicily entertaining . . . an exceptional life, one to which Eade does rich justice -- Miranda Seymour * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
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 . . . a rollicking good read -- Richard Davenport-Hines * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
A scrupulous researcher . . . [Eade] writes with panache -- Sara Wheeler * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
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 *
Amazing and hilarious -- Christopher Foyle * DAILY EXPRESS *
The kind of gift subject that biographers must dream of . . . Colourful anecdotes of eccentricity, lunacy and infidelity crowd every page -- Christopher Hart * SUNDAY TIMES, Books of the Year *
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 * PROSPECT, Books of the Year *
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
Richly entertaining * IRISH TIMES *
An enthralling study of an extraordinary woman -- Joanna Lumley
