Now it Can be Told! Sylvia - Queen of the Headhunters - an Update

The myth and glam of the 3 generation dynasty of the White Rajahs of Sarawak has kept booksellers and media types in business for all of a 100 years, and BBooks is delighted to say that our sad fraternity of bookish types (pace Notting Hill) is just in the process of receiving a massive shot in the arm from a new book about the 3rd Ranee...Sylvia, wife of His Highness Sir Vyner Brooke. She was one of the UK Foreign Office's least favourite people (out of a very competitive field). "Her spiritual home is Hollywood" they groaned to each other in those hushed Whitehall corridors, shaking their heads. Sylvia was high spirited, distinctly unconventional and knew how to live up to the British public's fantasy of what they thought the consort of a Rajah got up to. What she actually got up to was nobody's business, according to sources which could only be tapped recently on the demise of all who might have sued. In BBooks view she was also a good and caring person - just a bit over the top for the times - but notoriety dogged her all along, and her daughters (the three 'Princesses') led lives of such rich texture it kept the more excitable end of the press spectrum in copy for decades. With eight husbands between them they could be said to have sampled the field thoroughly, as the spouses included an earl, a band-leader and an all in wrestler.
The first 3 chapters are set in late Victorian and Edwardian times and give (to BBooks mind) fascinating insights into the private lives of some of the leading politicians and literary figures of the times eg George Bernard Shaw, a close friend and literary coach of the Ranee-to-be. Another bonus is the detail of the Rasputin like figure of Gerard MacBryan, a quite extraodinary character who weaves in and out of the story like the proverbial bad penny. He crops up quite a lot when the narrative reaches the 2nd World War period, for which this book is a rich source of fact relating to the fate of Sarawak.
The author, Philip Eade, has written a well researched account running to over 300 pages. This may sound a bit formidable but in fact the text is thoroughly readable. The 85 photos, printed on decent paper so they stand out well, help to really bring the book to life, although the paper back format has shrunk them down a bit.
Tipped as maybe the best biography published in the UK in 2007, BBooks thinks this book has got legs - the most satisfying of the Brooke books so far, rounding off the story in a very neat way. It may be the last book about the Rajahs, as the dynasty is now rapidly disappearing into history, even if the romance lives on.
Just the present to give for a birthday or when you are off on a quiet holiday. Let it rain, let it pour, you will be happy for evermore.
On sale in Borneo Books (Kota Kinabalu - if you haven't been you're missing something). By airmail to the US c. USD28.00; UK c. GBP 16.00; continental Europe c.Euro 20.00; Australia A$28.00. Can be ordered on line from us if you cannot find it more cheaply by other means.