Book review: Redeeming features
I imagined that this would be like a Gore Vidal memoir but less so. But it's not; it's like a Gore Vidal memoir but more so. Let's see: Nicky Haslam tells us about his childhood, about his house, Great Hundridge Manor, built in 1696, about the brother who larked in the parlour with HG Wells, about his father, who went to Cambridge with Rupert Brooke and Lytton Strachey and hung out with Keynes and his boyfriends at the weekends. At this point, Haslam is just clearing his throat. What follows is a pageant of glitz, starting with famous people in frock coats and snowballing through the decades: Bailey, Shrimpton, Jagger, Andy Warhol, the Queen Mum ... all the way to Paris Hilton, who apparently has a big fridge full of doughnuts that she never eats. It's extremely diverting, essentially kind-hearted and well-written.