The Quality of Love by Ariane Bankes - #blogtour #bookreview

What elusive quality is it that propels people into the centre of things? My mother, Celia Paget, and her identical twin sister Mamaine seemed to possess that quality, to gravitate towards the very heart of the era in which they lived... their lives became entangled with some of the most remarkable figures of the twentieth century, whether as friend or lovers, muses or wives.

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When her mother Celia Paget died, Ariane Bankes inherited a battered trunk stuffed with photographs and letters belonging to Celia and her twin sister Mamaine. This correspondence charted the remarkable lives of the Paget girls and their friends and lovers, including Arthur Koestler, Albert Camus, Sartre

and de Beauvoir, and George Orwell.

Out of this rich unseen archive, The Quality of Love weaves the story of these captivatingly beautiful – all the more so for being identical – twins who overcame a meagre education to take 1930s London society by storm and then move among Europe’s foremost intellectuals during the century’s most

dramatic decades. Above all, it is a sparkling portrait of the deep connection between two spirited sisters.

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 This book provides an interesting and engaging insight into the lives of identical twins Celia and Mamaine Paget. 

The author, who is Celia's daughter, discovered a chest full of letters, diaries and journals following her mother's death in 2002. Through these the author permits the reader to observe and understand, not only the life of her mother and the aunt that she never knew, but also into the intellectual and cultural period in which they lived.

Born in 1916 and orphaned at a young age, the twins were largely raised by an aunt. Catapulted into the glamorous society of coming out balls, they were presented at court as debutantes in 1935. However, neither of them were interested in the marriage market, and instead were more drawn to the company of intellectuals such as George Orwell, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus.

The text is littered with photographs demonstrating not only the beauty and elegance of the sisters, but also of those in the circle in which they moved. They were obviously spirited women, who the author portrays with the love and respect which she clearly feels. She has pieced together the lives of two extraordinary women through her inheritance of the letters and diaries. I so enjoyed being able to not only hear from Celia and Mamaine, but to hear the words written by Orwell and his peers.

This is a fascinating account, not only of the twins, but also of the time period and the world which they inhabited. It is well written, and delightful to read, and I recommend it for anyone interested in this era.

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ISBN: 978 0715654989

Publisher:  Duckworth Books

Formats:  e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages:  304 (hardback)

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About the Author:

Ariane Bankes had a long career in publishing, including at John Murray and V&A Publishing, before becoming a writer, critic and curator. Her writing has appeared in the Spectator, TLS, Financial Times, Country Life and Slightly Foxed. She sits on the boards of Koestler Arts, the Leche Trust and the Biographers’ Club, where she runs the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize and the Tony Lothian Prize.

(book & media courtesy of Random Things Tours)

(all opinions are my own)