The treacherous glitz of show business and the sublime madness of family relationships are brought to life in this hilarious and ultimately touching new novel from the bestselling author of The Future Homemakers of America and The Unfortunates. The Boff brothers live at home with their Mam. They have a lav down the yard and a jerry under the bed and they play bookings at the Birmingham Welsh and the Rover Sports and Social. Cled tinkles on the piano and Sel is the crooner. 'Sel's the one who can lift people out of themselves and send them home feeling grand and you can't argue against that' says Cled. When Sel decides he must try his chances with the brights lights of New York City, he packs up his sequinned suits and enlists his brother as travel companion and accompanist. What follows is a tale of mad-cap high jinx; of mirrored ceilings and heart-shaped tubs; of screaming girls, romancing and No Business Like Show Business. As jealousy starts encroaching on the brothers' relationship, Cled finds that there are more secrets in his family than he had bargained for. With her characteristic wit and wisdom, Laurie Graham brings us a touching celebration of the sparkle and dust of family life.

Mr Starlight

Literature & Fiction

Laurie Graham

Contemporary

Harperperennial

Gone with the Windsors

Gone with the Windsors Hardcover Laurie Graham

Fourth Estate

The scandalous divorcée who led the besotted Prince of Wales to abdicate his throne first appears in the fictional diary of Maybell Brumby as her schoolmate Bessie, a charity girl with pretensions and good cheekbones. "I'm Wallis," she snarls, "and if you call me anything else you're going to be sorry." 
One social climber swiftly recognizes another. When life's whimsical currents toss these two gilt-edged gold diggers together again as adults, history will change its course. 
Maybell is the wealthy, friskily young widow of a Baltimore bore, eager to break into London society. Wallis has jettisoned husband number one and is looking for the escape hatch from husband number two; impoverished as ever, she's armed only with that terrific bone structure, a few erotic tricks she's picked up in the Far East, and the determination to land the most eligible bachelor in the world. And now, to help her on her quest, she has her old chum Maybell, along with her inexhaustible trust fund and her useful inability to recognize the deft touch of a born con artist. 
Trailing a cloud of Worth perfume and an ermine stole, missing the point of every conversation, the deliciously dim Maybell witnesses the courtship of the twentieth century and the scandal that rocked a monarchy—recording all in her diary. 
As light as a meringue, as fizzy as a freshly popped bottle of champagne, Gone with the Windsors is a supremely clever entertainment.

Gone With the Windsors

Fourth Estate, Limited

A brilliant new novel by Laurie Graham set in wartime London, which follows Kick Kennedy, sister of future US President JFK, as she takes London society by storm. Nora Brennan is a country girl from Westmeath. When she lands herself a position as nursery maid to a family in Brookline, Massachusetts, she little thinks it will place her at the heart of American history. But it's the Kennedy family. In 1917 Joseph Kennedy is on his way to his first million and he has plans to found a dynasty and ensure that his baby son, Joe Junior, will be the first Catholic President of the United States. As nursemaid to all nine Kennedy children, Nora witnesses every moment, public and private. She sees the boys coached at their father's knee to believe everything they'll ever want in life can be bought. She sees the girls trained by their mother to be good Catholic wives. World War II changes everything. At the outbreak of war the Kennedys are living the high life in London, where Joseph Kennedy is the American ambassador. His reaction is to send the entire household back across the Atlantic to safety, but Nora, surprised by midlife love, chooses to stay in England and do her bit. Separated from her Kennedys by an ocean she nevertheless remains the warm, approachable sun around which the older children orbit: Joe, Jack, Rosemary, and in particular Kick, who throws the first spanner in the Kennedy works by marrying an English Protestant. Laurie Graham's poignant new novel views the Kennedys from below stairs, with the humour and candour that only an ex-nursemaid dare employ.

The Importance of Being Kennedy

Fourth Estate (GB)

Reissue of a classic novel from the bestselling author of `The Future Homemakers of America'.What hope is there for Poppy Minkel? She has kinky hair, out-sticking ears, too yellow a neck and an appetite for fun, and her mother Dora despairs of ever finding her a husband, despite the Minkel's Mustard fortune that seasons these dubious attractions. When Daddy disappears, Poppy's tendency to the unusual is quietly allowed to flourish. World War I opens new horizons. With never a moment of self-doubt, she invents her own extraordinary life in step with the unfolding century.

The Unfortunates

Harper-perennial

Ten O'Clock Horses

A portrait of suffering man at the dawn of the permissive era. It is 1962. The first avocados are appearing at the greengrocer's, people are carpeting their lavatories and boxing in their banisters, and Ronnie Glover, house-painter, is feeling the first vague stirrings of discontent with his life.

Bantam]

A personal account of widowhood and passage through grief describes Graham's sorrow over the death of her husband, publishing executive George Schieffelin, her move to a New Jersey farmhouse, and the restoration process that helped her cope with grief

Rebuilding the House

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Viking/Penguin

The Future Homakers of America

In the tradition of "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, " this moving novel, filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, is about a group of women who discover--over the course of 40 turbulent years--the nature of true friendship.

The Future Homemakers of America

Isis Publishing Ltd

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Laurie Graham. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Laurie Graham

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Laurie Graham. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Mr Starlight

Gone with the Windsors Hardcover Laurie Graham

Gone With the Windsors

The Importance of Being Kennedy

The Unfortunates

Mr Starlight

Ten O'Clock Horses

Rebuilding the House

The Future Homakers of America

The Future Homemakers of America