Nancy Lancaster: Her Life, Her World, Her Art

by Robert Becker

16 pages of illustrations, 152 b/w photographs in text

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

426 pages, Hardcover

First published February 13, 1996

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I like continuity, the feeling that people have added different things to the house, that things flowed in over time.”

The definitive biography/memoir of Nancy Lancaster, the Virginian who defined English interior design. When I learned that Lancaster’s family home was in Charlottesville, where I live, and that she was responsible for the way that English homes and gardens look, I felt that I had to learn more.

This is a charming, interesting account of her life, interspersed with very liberal and lengthy quotations straight from Lancaster herself, which are, by far, the best part of the book. It’s a bit of an odd reading experience (all of her quotes are cut into the narration and formatted in boldface), but hearing from her directly is a delight.

She was an outrageously wealthy and privileged woman, but she sounded quite fun and likable, despite it all, and her taste was unmatched.

I also very much like her garden design philosophy, because it happens to mirror my own thoughts on the subject:

“I love a garden that is like a crowded shoe… and one that’s seeded itself all over the place. Haphazard. Unexpected. An exuberance. I’ve never done a color scheme in my life. I did my garden here as I went. I want to be surprised. I like to see a violet at the back and a hollyhock coming out in the path… I like to be surprised by a garden. I want planting to go haywire, for a plant to fight for its place by taking over its neighbor’s. It doesn’t please me to see some rare thing from Shanghai or somewhere treated like something special.”

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the way the author told this story. Although using a chronological narrative of dates--of births, weddings, divorces, deaths, and, most importantly, houses acquired and decorated--he interspersed his narrative with quotations from a long interview with the subject, so that it seemed she was popping in from time to time to weigh in with opinions, anecdotes, and jokes--from the present. A little Mitfordian. I would have loved more photos in the text itself, as I had to keep flipping back and forth, but the research was so detailed and well documented that it rewarded a close and slow reading.

[Jay Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating look at an incredible woman. What a life!

[Sean Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and very intimate look at the world of Nancy Lancaster. This book gives us a lovely window ( curtained with bleached damask of course) into the world iin which Mrs. Lancaster was born (The Post Antebellum world of Virginia) through W.W.II ( where the then Nancy Tree and her husband Ronnie hosted Churchill at Ditchley Park for weekend visits) to the last part of here life in the Coach house at Haseley Court. Much of the book is written in Mrs. Lancaster's own words which allows us to bask her warmth, intelligence and grand sense of humor.Tons of great quotes!

[Lelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful! Very readable.