MARY AND RICHARD A True Story of Love and War

Burn, Michael

ISBN 10: 155710042X / ISBN 13: 9781557100429

Published by William Morrow & Company (1989), New York, NY, 1989

About this Item

New York, NY: William Morrow & Company. VG/VG. (1989). First U. S. Edition. Cloth/Boards w/DJ. Sm 4to., 249 pp., shelfwear .

Seller Inventory # BOOKS10581

Bibliographic Details

• Title: MARY AND RICHARD A True Story of Love and War
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company (1989), New York, NY
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 155710042X
• ISBN 13: 9781557100429
• Binding: Cloth/Boards w/DJ
• Illustrator: Black & White Photographs
• Edition: First U. S. Edition.
• Condition: VG/VG
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY-Hillary, R

About this title

Synopsis

Recounts the intense, year-long love affair between World War II British hero Richard Hillary and the captivating, older Mary Booker until his death in a plane crash in 1943, as told by Booker's husband of more than twenty years

Reviews

A celebrated hero of World War II and a woman described as "one of England's most beautiful" conducted a profound but shadowed love affair that lasted for 13 months, until the Spitfire pilot's death in a military plane crash in 1943. Among the remarkable aspects of their relationship was age difference; Mary Booker was a divorcee 20 years older than Richard Hillary. At their first meeting, Hillary, then 22, was already lionized for his heroism in a fiery plane crash that left him burned and facially disfigured; he was also the author of a popular book about his experiences, The Last Enemy. Adding interest, the story is now told by Booker's husband of 27 years. After her death in 1974, Burn, a novelist and poet ( Yes, Farewell ; Out on a Limb ) found previously unseen correspondence between the two lovers, and in tribute to both of them constructed this sentimental biography. The romance was upper-class British; famous names recur--Merle Oberon, Arthur Koestler, T. E. Lawrence. Hillary, something of a philandering Byronic hero, and Booker, apparently a paragon in every way, are romantic figures.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.