Counting One's Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

On the eve of WWII, Queen Elizabeth, consort to King George VI, famously declared that she would not leave London: "The children [Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret] could not go without me, I could not possibly leave the King, and the King would never go." Her stalwart devotion to family and country were why her country loved her, and form the most notable aspect of this collection of many of the letters she composed throughout her long life. (She died at 101 in 2002). Royal watchers will enjoy reading about the Windsors through the Queen Mother's comforting and intimate, although not revealing, voice, such as this observation about her scandal-plagued brother-in-law, the one-time King Edward VIII (David to the family): "David does not seem to possess the faculty for making others feel wanted." Insights into the Queen Mother's character include some surprising glimmers of humor and a deep compassion for the English people but are not enough to mitigate excessive length and the lack of a strong editorial hand. Shawcross covers this material more efficiently in his own biography of the Queen Mother. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit. (Nov.)