The Surprising Life of Constance Spry

Front Cover
Pan Macmillan, Nov 30, 2010 - Biography & Autobiography - 384 pages

Fascinating ... to be eagerly devoured’ Clarissa Dickson-Wright

Most people today, if they have heard of her, associate Constance Spry with the cookery book bearing her name. But Connie was much, much more than the author of a bestselling cookery book. She was deeply unconventional, extremely charming and very determined; Spry’s life took her from the back streets of Victorian Derby to running a hugely successful business as the florist of choice for the highest of high society, organizing the flowers for royal weddings and indeed for the Queen's coronation. She endured a violent first marriage, had a lesbian affair with a cross-dressing artist and was a pioneer for working women at a time when few women had careers. Sue Shephard tells her extraordinary story with insight, wit and flair.

'Riveting.’ Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall

‘Makes you fall utterly in love with its subject’ New York Times Magazine

‘Reveals with the greatest skill and sympathy an extraordinary person - complicated, driven, sometimes secretive but gifted and artistic to an nth degree. What a story.' Elizabeth Buchan

 

Contents

Introduction
Prologue
Dark Frustration 18861900
Ireland 19001910 3 The Mine Managers Wife 19101916
The Freemasonry of Flowers 19171928
Ensnared with Flowers 19281930
AllWhite 1932
Made for Happiness 19321936
The Sprys Wartime Household 19401945
A Beginning School 19451950
Never Be Funny with Flowers 19501953
Lights Up Lights Out 19521960
Epilogue
xvi
Acknowledgements
xx
Select Bibliography and Sources
xxiii
Index
36

Absolute Discretion 19341937
SilverTong Manners 19371939

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2010)

Sue Shephard is the author of Pickled, Potted and Canned: The Story of Food Preserving which won the André Simon Special Award and Seeds of Fortune. She lives in Bristol with her family.

Bibliographic information