Ever after : Diana and the life she led

"A first-class piece of research and reconstruction graced by a first-class writing talent, with a startling royal family scandal buried at the heart of the story." - Barbara Tuchman on Anne Edwards' Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor "This is the stuff of fairy tales," said the Archbishop of Canterbury on July 23, 1981, after the 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer arrived in a glass coach for her wedding to Prince Charles.But everyone knows how that fairy tale ended. Drawing upon intensive research and interviews, acclaimed biographer Anne Edwards, well-known for her revelatory and incisive books on members of Britain's royal family, here uncovers new details of Diana's life and her search for love; of her family background; and of a betrayal, historic in its outcome. What the public did not know at the time of her storybook wedding was the true story of Diana's troubled childhood-of the cold, autocratic grandfather who disdained her father, who was himself an abusive husband obsessed with having a son to inherit the Spencer wealth and title.When Diana married Prince Charles, she joined the equally troubled House of Windsor, and was caught up in a plot Shakespearean in its deception and eventual tragic ending. Anne Edwards paints a vivid portrait of a woman desperate in her marriage, fearful of her life, who became devious-and often brilliant-in the moves she played in a treacherous royal chess game.As in her superb biographies of other royal and celebrated women, Anne Edwards transcends the one-sided views of Diana in a work that must be called definitive. At long last, and with all of the insight and narrative drama that have marked her previous bestsellers, Edwards brings us the first full-scale, authoritative portrait of a more intelligent, more resourceful, and sometimes more ruthless woman than we have seen before.AUTHORBIO: Anne Edwards, who lived in London for many years and has close friends within royal circles, is the author of many best-selling biographies, including Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windso and Royal Sisters: Elizabeth and Margaret. She is known for her meticulous research and ability to portray her subjects with passion and sympathy. She has also written biographies of Vivien Leigh, Margaret Mitchell, Katharine Hepburn, and Sonya, Countess Tolstoy.