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The Surprising Life of Constance Spry: From Social Reformer to Society Florist
A riveting new biography—the first in 30 years—of the influential floral artist and founder of the Cordon Bleu cooking school
"Dress by Schiaperelli, photographs by Cecil Beaton, flowers by Constance Spry—The decorator of the moment, the photographer of the moment, the florist of the moment—what more could you ask?" Thus Vogue magazine described the wedding in 1937 of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but most people today, if they have heard of her, associate Constance Spry with the cookbook bearing her name. But Connie was much, much more than the author of a bestselling cookbook. She was deeply unconventional, extremely charming, and very determined; Spry's life took her from a poverty-stricken childhood to running a hugely successful business as the florist of choice for the highest of high society, organizing the flowers for royal weddings and for the Queen's coronation. Along the way she escaped a violent marriage, had a lengthy affair with a cross-dressing lesbian artist, and built a hugely successful flower business—a pioneer for working women at a time when few women had careers. Sue Shephard tells her extraordinary story with insight, wit, and flair.
"Dress by Schiaperelli, photographs by Cecil Beaton, flowers by Constance Spry—The decorator of the moment, the photographer of the moment, the florist of the moment—what more could you ask?" Thus Vogue magazine described the wedding in 1937 of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but most people today, if they have heard of her, associate Constance Spry with the cookbook bearing her name. But Connie was much, much more than the author of a bestselling cookbook. She was deeply unconventional, extremely charming, and very determined; Spry's life took her from a poverty-stricken childhood to running a hugely successful business as the florist of choice for the highest of high society, organizing the flowers for royal weddings and for the Queen's coronation. Along the way she escaped a violent marriage, had a lengthy affair with a cross-dressing lesbian artist, and built a hugely successful flower business—a pioneer for working women at a time when few women had careers. Sue Shephard tells her extraordinary story with insight, wit, and flair.
350 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2010
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208 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 9, 2016
Certainly Spry's life was to me surprising. I expected a story about childhood dreams, marriage, and a career with "good works" and then finally success as a florist and I have to admit I only read this because I think women's history is both not written about enough and not read about enough. It turned out I was right, there were a few juicy "surprising" bits that showed that Constance Spry was not quite the goody-goody I was expecting. This all came in the middle in the most interesting part of the book.
As a history of the woman it is very complete going from birth to death and I don;t think much gets missed out. I loved the portrayal of Spry (or Connie as the author calls her) always thinking she was one of the ordinary people and wanting to make her work about ordinary folk (for all that she mixed with the rich and famous and decorated for things like the coronation). She seemed to think she could change the world with beautiful flower arrangements which to me working in Early Childhood where I feel a lot of time gets wasted debating different set-outs of the room and extolling the teaching power of beauty- while many children around the world starve or live insecurely- it seems like a waste of so much passion. But I like flowers.
I liked that the book was typical of a women's history, showing how much more there is to a mother or a wife or a society hostess than men's histories of "more important" people might. Winston Churchill makes a cameo in the book, his wife is more prominent in it but it is not a book about heads of state so he is a minor part of it. I do enjoy that. I like Connie's spunk and spark and I loathe the way she exploits her workers (but give Shepherd some credit for showing this as clearly as she does and constantly harping on it).
I felt Shepherd had a failure in imagination on some of the interpersonal stuff. She presented Val Pirie as Connie's enemy, a "home-wrecker", and it certainly seems clear that Val had a long relationship with Connie's husband Shav. But the hatred and dread of Val that Shepherd ascribes to Connie seems speculative (although she keeps returning to it with little barbed comments) she presents no evidence for it and in fact the documents she does quote show Connie affectionately grateful to Val and making her part of their lives. Shepherd thinks Connie, being a private and shy person is lying about her affection for Val to keep a secret. In the absence of better evidence I wouldn't be so sure, considering Connie and Shav continue to have a very close relationship, considering Connie's independence and the fact she has at least one...um...adventure in this time and considering men having mistresses with their wife's knowledge was not as uncommon as th author seems to wish to pretend. Connie may or may not have at times been upset about her husbands extra-marital relationship but she seems to have got on with life without stressing about it as much as Shepherd ascribes to her,
The other point where I think the author needs to be a little more broad minded is she seems to think in p317 that a warm relationship/friendship of over 30 years is unlikely to be one were personal confidences were exchanged because of a 20 year age gap. Really? Has the author never had a friend outside her own age group? Because I think in a 30 year close relationship where they collaborated on books together and stuff personal confidences WOULD have crept in, especially given how much that has been shown to be part of female bonding. I found that paragraph puzzling and once again wondered if there was some sort of documentary evidence (or notable lack therefo) she was basing this odd assumption on.
The numerous quotes from letters and people in the book are wonderful- I'd like even more clear trail of where the information is coming from- being a nerdy person who reads history. I loved the way this in some ways common-place story brings out themes of gender and class and I am a appalled at the whiteness of the book (but think that was probably true to the life and times of Spry). I was a bit sad she left education and real social reform to focus on making rich people's lavish parties look nice.
More interesting than you would expect. Very detailed. Worth a read.
As a history of the woman it is very complete going from birth to death and I don;t think much gets missed out. I loved the portrayal of Spry (or Connie as the author calls her) always thinking she was one of the ordinary people and wanting to make her work about ordinary folk (for all that she mixed with the rich and famous and decorated for things like the coronation). She seemed to think she could change the world with beautiful flower arrangements which to me working in Early Childhood where I feel a lot of time gets wasted debating different set-outs of the room and extolling the teaching power of beauty- while many children around the world starve or live insecurely- it seems like a waste of so much passion. But I like flowers.
I liked that the book was typical of a women's history, showing how much more there is to a mother or a wife or a society hostess than men's histories of "more important" people might. Winston Churchill makes a cameo in the book, his wife is more prominent in it but it is not a book about heads of state so he is a minor part of it. I do enjoy that. I like Connie's spunk and spark and I loathe the way she exploits her workers (but give Shepherd some credit for showing this as clearly as she does and constantly harping on it).
I felt Shepherd had a failure in imagination on some of the interpersonal stuff. She presented Val Pirie as Connie's enemy, a "home-wrecker", and it certainly seems clear that Val had a long relationship with Connie's husband Shav. But the hatred and dread of Val that Shepherd ascribes to Connie seems speculative (although she keeps returning to it with little barbed comments) she presents no evidence for it and in fact the documents she does quote show Connie affectionately grateful to Val and making her part of their lives. Shepherd thinks Connie, being a private and shy person is lying about her affection for Val to keep a secret. In the absence of better evidence I wouldn't be so sure, considering Connie and Shav continue to have a very close relationship, considering Connie's independence and the fact she has at least one...um...adventure in this time and considering men having mistresses with their wife's knowledge was not as uncommon as th author seems to wish to pretend. Connie may or may not have at times been upset about her husbands extra-marital relationship but she seems to have got on with life without stressing about it as much as Shepherd ascribes to her,
The other point where I think the author needs to be a little more broad minded is she seems to think in p317 that a warm relationship/friendship of over 30 years is unlikely to be one were personal confidences were exchanged because of a 20 year age gap. Really? Has the author never had a friend outside her own age group? Because I think in a 30 year close relationship where they collaborated on books together and stuff personal confidences WOULD have crept in, especially given how much that has been shown to be part of female bonding. I found that paragraph puzzling and once again wondered if there was some sort of documentary evidence (or notable lack therefo) she was basing this odd assumption on.
The numerous quotes from letters and people in the book are wonderful- I'd like even more clear trail of where the information is coming from- being a nerdy person who reads history. I loved the way this in some ways common-place story brings out themes of gender and class and I am a appalled at the whiteness of the book (but think that was probably true to the life and times of Spry). I was a bit sad she left education and real social reform to focus on making rich people's lavish parties look nice.
More interesting than you would expect. Very detailed. Worth a read.
August 23, 2021
Alerted to this by Robin Lane Fox' gardening column in the FT and was supplied by my library - fascinating life story of a woman who was just a name I associated with a lovely rose and flower arrangements. Was surprised at her strong connection to Ireland and her varied life...a great, independent woman who was a great gardener and cook too - and always seem to be photograph wearing a hat and/or pearls - happy days!
June 7, 2021
An inspirational and fascinating read - what a woman!
January 20, 2018
No suelo leer biografías pero ésta me ha encantado. La filosofía de vida de la señora Spry me fascina, sentía auténtico amor por las flores y su objetivo era que cualquiera pudiera disfrutarlas en su día a día, independientemente de su situación social.
Aunque se hizo famosa por ser la florista de referencia de la gente de alta sociedad, sus orígenes eran más humildes y siempre quiso acercar su arte a todo el mundo.
Leer este libro ha sido como un constante recordatorio a la importancia de rodearse de las cosas que te hacen feliz, a saber sacarle provecho a lo que tienes, a no dejarte llevar por la tendencia pesimista que te pueda tocar vivir y a nunca dejar de hacer lo que te gusta.
Aunque se hizo famosa por ser la florista de referencia de la gente de alta sociedad, sus orígenes eran más humildes y siempre quiso acercar su arte a todo el mundo.
Leer este libro ha sido como un constante recordatorio a la importancia de rodearse de las cosas que te hacen feliz, a saber sacarle provecho a lo que tienes, a no dejarte llevar por la tendencia pesimista que te pueda tocar vivir y a nunca dejar de hacer lo que te gusta.
Read
February 5, 2021Read the book with great interest but was very surprised to find absolutely no mention of my grandmother Honor Bannerman who was Constance's right hand woman before the war. It was she who took the regular flowers round to Wallis Simpson's house only to be told by a policeman that "She's 'opped it!" My grandmother was a fundamental part of setting up the school and I have several letters signed by Miss Spry and from the owners of the Savoy thanking her so much for her excellent flower work. I just wonder why she was left out of the story.
June 16, 2020
Interesting but I confess I got a bit bored of the people she met.....
Read
May 28, 2022A little more detail than I need right now, but fascinating story to skim. I'd love to see a movie made of her life. Period detail galore!
October 20, 2021
Biographies are difficult. And I always start reading one unsure how much I'm going to enjoy it. Writing a biography must be very hard. How do you present the person and their life with a different slant if someone has already written a biography about your subject? How do you deliver on the expections of the life of an iconic figure? How do you get under the skin of someone and draw in your reader?
Sue Shepherd has written an engaging biography that feels as if she has portrayed Connie as she found her. Even if you have limited interest in Ms Spry and her life of flower arranging, the book provides wonderful insights to the life and times of some famous people with fantastic attention to detail. The troubles in Ireland pre WWII, the Queen's wedding and coronation, and zany artists and creatives in the 1930s are all part of Connie's experience. I found the information about people's lives during the war and immediately afterwards totally fascinating.
I suspect on a professional level I'd have loved Constance Spry's company and admired her professionalism enormously but on a more personal level I think I'd have found some of her attitude to relationships and friends unappealing. She comes across as a mix of egocentric, driven and emotionally fragile. A toxic combination!
Sue Shepherd has written an engaging biography that feels as if she has portrayed Connie as she found her. Even if you have limited interest in Ms Spry and her life of flower arranging, the book provides wonderful insights to the life and times of some famous people with fantastic attention to detail. The troubles in Ireland pre WWII, the Queen's wedding and coronation, and zany artists and creatives in the 1930s are all part of Connie's experience. I found the information about people's lives during the war and immediately afterwards totally fascinating.
I suspect on a professional level I'd have loved Constance Spry's company and admired her professionalism enormously but on a more personal level I think I'd have found some of her attitude to relationships and friends unappealing. She comes across as a mix of egocentric, driven and emotionally fragile. A toxic combination!
July 3, 2014
Julie sent me this for my birthday, and I *really* enjoyed it, though the writing was poorly constructed and confusing at the beginning (either it got better or I got used to it!). In many ways, this is an odd book: I'd never heard of Spry, and the depth of the story did at times seem excessive for a life that, while interesting, wasn't really heroic or even widely varied. However, Spry's character and the way her life unfolded made for interesting reading, and I ended up liking the book a great deal.
November 25, 2013
Shone a light on a world to which I had previously given little thought - via the life story of the mother of modern flower arranging, who believed and taught that beauty should be for everyone and could be achieved by anyone using a little resourcefulness.
Has changed the way I will look at flowers and florists.
Has changed the way I will look at flowers and florists.
April 2, 2016
An inspired life lived as a testament to insatiable curiosity; a life-long dedication to a chosen métier; a belief in education; and a relentless pursuit of & appreciation for beauty in all of its aspects, without regard to its source.
April 17, 2016
From consumption education
To big flower decoration.
She did flowers for the wedding
Of Ms. Simpson and the ex-King.
After some years off the scene
Did them for the future Queen.
Her career's grand culmination
Was the new Queen's coronation.
To big flower decoration.
She did flowers for the wedding
Of Ms. Simpson and the ex-King.
After some years off the scene
Did them for the future Queen.
Her career's grand culmination
Was the new Queen's coronation.
July 5, 2015
Fascinating book about a very interesting life during a fascinating period of history.
August 12, 2012
Had no knowledge of her before eading this. A high achiever, curious person, charismatic individual.
September 12, 2012
I couldn't get into it and stopped reading it after the first couple chapters.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews