Diana Cooper

Lady Diana Cooper was in her prime widely regarded as the most beautiful woman in England and the idol of her generation. She was witty, outrageous, generous and loyal. Famous as a member of the aristocratic and intellectual group 'The Cotorie', she later edited the magazine Femina before starting a career as an actress on the stage and then in films during the 1920s. Her husband, Duff Cooper, was parliament in 1924 and Diana continued as a society hostess until his retirement in 1947. Diana wrote three volumes of memoirs in the 1950s which are also published by Faber Finds, and she died in 1986 aged 93. Philip Ziegler's biography is a compulsive read, telling the story of a remarkable woman and her passionate life.

'For nine decades a symbol of all that is dashing and daring, a synonym for courage and wit and inspired friendship.' Sunday Telegraph

'Combines total honesty with total affection... A portrait which you can laugh over, cry over and think over as well.' Punch

'No wonder Evelyn Waugh loved her.' Scotsman

Auteur

Philip Ziegler was born in December 1929, and was eductated at Eton and New College, Oxford, where he won the Chancellor's Essay Prize and gained a first class honours degree in law. He then entered the Foreign Service and served in Laos, with the Delegation to NATO in Paris, in Pretoria and in Bogota. In 1967 he retired from the Foreign Service to join the publishing company of William Collins. He was an editorial director for ten years and became editor-in-chief before leaving to concentrate on his writing, which has included biographies of Lord Mountbatten and William IV. He also wrote the highly acclaimed The Black Death.