Sylvia: Queen of the Headhunters
Author(s): Philip Eade
Otherwise known as the Ranee of Sarawak, Sylvia Brooke (1885-1971) was the consort (and by custom, slave) of Sir Vyner Brooke, the last White Rajah, whose family ruled the jungle kingdom of Sarawak on Borneo.
Each White Rajah had the power of life and death over his subjects - Malays, Chinese and headhunting Dyak tribesmen. The regime of the White Rajahs was long deemed superior to any in the British Empire, but by the 1930s there was a sharp decline in their power and prestige. At the centre of Sarawak's perceived decadence was Ranee Sylvia, extravagantly-dressed socialite and incorrigible self-dramatist, described by the press as 'that most charming of despots'. The Colonial Office branded her 'a dangerous woman, full of Machiavellian schemes to alter the succession, and spectacularly vulgar in her behaviour'.
Sylvia: Queen of the Headhunters chronicles the extraordinary life of the Ranee, with a supporting cast including Sylvia's father, a celebrated courtier in love with his own son; her whimsical and sexually incontinent husband, Rajah Vyner and the Rajah's unhinged, Rasputinesque private secretary.
Product Information
A stylish new cover for the paperback Sylvia has already reprinted in hardback 'Juicily entertaining... an exceptional life, one to which Eade does rich justice' Mail on Sunday 'Biting biography... draws on family archives to tell the full, jaw-dropping story of a family more than usually mischevious and dysfunctional' The Times 'Eminently readable, with a detectives pertinacity at finding the clues to forgotten secrets and a raconteur's gift for sustaining his narrative interest' Sunday Telegraph 'A thorough, fascinating and rather giddying book... most sensational' Sunday Times 'Eade handles it all with consummate wit and style... a dazzling debut... the perfect summer holiday read' Country Life "A scrupulous researcher... his style is pleasing: he writes with panache' Daily Telegraph
"This is a delightful book, and proof that truth is stranger than fiction" THE TIMES "a splendid first book" SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Sylvia Brooke...cries out for the sort of juicy, scandal-laden biography that her odd career fuelled. Philip Eade does the job well, with zest, colour and scholarly high spirits." INDEPENDENT "Eade records [Sylvia's] assorted adventures and those of the bizarre dynasty into which she married with wit and style" SUNDAY TIMES
General Fields
- :
- : Orion Publishing Co
- : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- : 0.296
- : 30 April 2008
- : 198mm X 129mm X 24mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : 408
- : 1
- : Paperback
- : Philip Eade
