The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother, and Me

Summary (from the publisher): This beguiling tale of a scandalous menage a trois among England's upper classes is a high society love story that combines memoir and biography into a fascinating, heady read in the vein of The Bolter and Portrait of a Marriage.

Among the glittering stars of British society, Sofka Zinovieff's grandparents lived and loved with abandon. Robert Heber-Percy was a dashing young man who would rather have a drink than open a book, so his involvement with Jennifer Fry, a beautiful socialite famous for her style and charm, was not surprising. But by the time Robert met and married Jennifer, he had already been involved with a man--Gerald, Lord Berners--for more than a decade.

Stout, eccentric, and significantly older, Gerald was a well-known composer, and at home among scholars. He also owned one of Britain's loveliest stately homes, Faringdon House in Oxfordshire. The two made an unlikely couple, especially because they lived together at Faringdon House when homosexuality was illegal. And then a pregnant Jennifer moved into Faringdon in 1942, creating a formidable menage a trois.

In this gorgeous, entertaining narrative of bohemian aristocracy illustrated with dozens of photographs, Sofka Zinovieff probes the mysteries of her grandparents and the third man in their marriage. Who was Gerald, and what brought Robert and Jennifer together under his roof? Why did Jennifer marry Robert? Piecing together the complicated reality behind the scandals of revelry and sexuality, she finally allows old ghosts to rest.  

 

Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

 

Author Sofka Zinovieff's grandparents Jennifer and Robert belonged to the glittering, bohemian aristocracy of Britain of the 1930s and 40s. However, their marriage was particularly unusual because by the time Robert Heber-Percy married Jennifer Fry, he had been involved with and living with a much older man - Gerald, Lord Berners - for more than a decade. Together, this unusual trio lived at Faringdon House, Gerald's house in Oxfordshire, which Robert later inherited. Although Robert and Jennifer's marriage didn't last long, it did produce the author's mother, Victoria. Today, the author owns the home, and the particular legacy of the her wildly unusual family.

 

Stepping into the world of Lord Berners, Robert, and Jennifer felt like revisiting old friends. For anyone who has read anything about the Mitford sisters, the Waughs, or books like The Bolter, the cast of characters will be familiar. It's remarkable how the vibrant, irreverent social scene of British aristocracy of the time period seems like such a small world - all the same individuals appear in this book as many others from the time period. Famous names dropped in this book's pages, many of whom were guests of Gerald and Robert at Faringdon House, include Nancy Mitford, Igor Stravinsky, Diana Mitford Mosley, Hitler, Evelyn Waugh, Salvador Dali, H.G. Wells, Gertrude Stein, and Alice Toklas.

 

Faringdon House was known for its eccentricities. Indeed, Nancy Mitford fictionalized Gerald Berners and Faringdon in The Pursuit of Love as Lord Merlin and Merlinford. The estate is famous for its doves, dyed in various pastel hues. Lord Berners was said to keep and play a piano in his car, in fact, it was "a portable Dolmetsch clavichord  (with no legs and decorated with flowers and butterflies), which Gerald took around with him and played when he stopped' (42). Although illegal at the time, Gerald and Robert seemed to have no qualms about living together as a gay couple. "Many of the old taboos were broken by the Bright Young Things, who refused to follow in the conventional footsteps of their parents, yet had (in the case of men) gone to public schools where relationships between boys were the rule not the exception" (67).

 

All three of the trio were intriguing individuals. Lord Gerald was a composer, musician, painter, writer, and poet, whose works are still known today. Robert, known by his friends as the "Mad Boy" was known for flagrantly disregarding the rules and being wild and great fun. "At Faringdon, Robert lived the life of a favoured first son on a country estate, but with the indulgence of an older man who was in love with him" (76). Yet Gerald benefitted from Robert as well, since Robert became estate manager and handled all the day to day affairs of Faringdon. The two seemed to have had an an open relationship (which may have not even been sexual). On the other hand, its unsure whether or not Jennifer's child Victoria was really fathered by Robert, and their marriage was largely devoid of sex as well. Jennifer herself had an interesting childhood and was a relative of Lord Carnarvon, who funded many of Howard Carter's Egyptian expeditions and her aunt was "She-Evelyn" - the first wife of Evelyn Waugh. Jennifer was extremely sexually liberal and extravagantly beautiful. Later in life, Jennifer's wealth funded her second husband's "interest in young, undiscovered talent" and a monthly literary publication that published aspiring young writers including Derek Walcott and Jean Rhys.

 

The author, although granddaughter of Robert and Jennifer, is in a unique position to be rather objective towards the story of Faringdon House since she grew up largely outside of its world and never knew Robert well and did not meet Gerald before his death. The author expresses much anxiety over the inheritance of the house and its many traditions and rich history. Since much of the book deals with the house itself, I do wish more of its history had been included that predated Lord Berners as its owner. I would love to learn more about its origins and owners before Lord Berners, Robert, and now the author took the reigns.

 

Part biography, part memoir, part history of a particular slice of British society, this book is a fascinating addition to the other histories that have covered this period of British life. Although at times it seems to name drop a tad too much, and at other times seems to suffer from too flowery language, overall I loved learning about the brilliantly odd life and times of the three people whose relationship ultimately led to the author's existence.

 

Stars: 4