Anne Sebba
Monky Business
The Baroness: The Search for Nica, the Rebellious Rothschild
By Hannah Rothschild
Virago 307pp £20 order from our bookshop
Nica de Koenigswarter, née Rothschild, left her diplomat husband and five children to live alone in a New York hotel, where she liked to practise pistol shooting on the light bulbs in order to ‘keep her eye in’ after the war. Unsurprisingly the management were unhappy about this activity and from time to time Nica’s brother, Victor Rothschild, had to go over and pacify them. When Nica herself confirmed the story to her great-niece Hannah, author of this biography, she added her own spin: ‘The manager said we don’t mind if you shoot our staff, but please leave our chandeliers alone.’
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Chuffed to be on the Curiosity Pill 2020 round-up for my @Lit_Review piece on swimming, which I cannot wait to get back to after 10+ months away https://literaryreview.co.uk/different-strokes https://twitter.com/RNGCrit/status/1351922254687383553
'The authors do not shrink from spelling out the scale of the killings when the Rhodesians made long-distance raids on guerrilla camps in Mozambique and Zambia.'
Xan Smiley on how Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/what-the-secret-agent-saw
'Thirkell was a product of her time and her class. For her there are no sacred cows, barring those that win ribbons at the Barchester Agricultural.'
The novelist Angela Thirkell is due a revival, says Patricia T O'Conner (£).
https://literaryreview.co.uk/good-gad