Dear John: The Road to Pelindaba

by Jeff Osment

When a TV interviewer asked Mark Constantine OBE - 'what motivated him?' - the head of the £1 billion global cosmetics retailer Lush answered, 'his entrepreneur's wound.' Mark had been abandoned by his father as a baby and he had spent the rest of his life trying to impress a man who had disappeared into Kenya in 1954.

Fifty eight years later, on Mark's sixtieth birthday, his lifelong friend, Jeff Osment, whom he had known since Cub Scouts, presented Mark with his lost family history. Jeff had spent nine months secretly tracing the Constantine family tree, looking for information that might uncover the whereabouts of Mark's father and whether he was still alive. 'Dear John' is a captivating life story that starts in the seaside town of Weymouth and ends on a hillside in Africa, and everything that happened to a rebellious schoolboy, and his friend, along the road to Pelindaba.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

246 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Dana Van Aert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done for a first book.

This one is interesting as it's sort of like a dual biography, but with the story of Mark Constantine, man who becomes one of the biggest cosmetics manufacturers in the world, who spends 58 years never knowing his father and longing for that fatherly approval. Since Jeff Osment and Mark Constantine are so close this biography is all based on first hand knowledge but from the authors perspective. So we don't get into Constantines thoughts and feelings on a personal level nor do we get all the details of how he grew his business or his entrepreneurial flair. The book has lots of pictures that range from family portraits to Lush campaigns on banning testing on animals.

It's a good book, bittersweet in spots but you will be rooting for Constantine and amazed at all his accomplishments.

[Morv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear John: The Road to Pelindaba - The Unexpected Life Story of Mark Constantine OBE & Co-Founder of Lush Cosmetics is written by Jeff Osment a long time friend of Constantine as well as a film marker in his own right.

Dear John is almost like a biography of sorts. however instead of Constantine talking about his life, his childhood and how the lack of a father figure - John Constantine - meant that he was in a sense missing something, not even a step-father could take the man's place, the man who had suddenly left Mark's and his mother's life when Mark was just two years old.  This isn't a common biography, because Osment is a friend of Mark's as well as being instrumental in bringing Mark and his father together once more.  This book showcases Mark's own personal growth, as a boy, a teenager, a man, a husband, business man, inventor ect.

This is a man who is know around the world, by people who know of Lush Cosmetics being more than just 'that smelly shop', as a man who cares about the environment, who will be an activist via his stores.  This book gives more depth to the man who will probably become a legend in cruelty free business.

Is the book interesting? Of course, but warnings should be given out too.  This book isn't full of light heartedness, there is mentions of abuse - although it's not detailed.  There is, near the end of the book, pictures of certain campaigns the company have done that some people could find distressing, for example the famous Shark Fin campaign that was in the window of the now closed Regent Street Lush, London.

It's a must read book though, if you are a fan of Lush and want to know more about Mark, to know more about the company that is Lush, and get more involved in what exactly was the fall out between himself and Anita Roddick? You get some of that information in the book Danger: Cosmetics to Go by Mira Manga, but this goes into more detail and frames it out a lot better in my opinion.

There is another thing about this book, the cover.  It's hard to see in the picture, but the cover is really nicely done, in the same colouring as the perfume bottle called Dear John - the perfume was made for Mark's father and to him as well - the tear stains of the ink, but also, if you pick up the book and hold it to a certain angle, you can see the outline of the perfume bottle.  The cover is basic, but the little things like that make it impressive to look at.  To me at least.

The one grape I have about this book is the lack of pdf for people who can't read a physical book comfortably, or for people who have vision problems.  Currently this is a physical book only, hopefully Lush will have an audible book available somewhere - doubt it will be on Amazon any time soon! If you can read it though, please do, it's a great read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason I really liked this book is probably down to a sense of personal connection, from way back when Cosmetics To Go first had a shop in Poole (oddly the book implies this didn't happen during the CTG stage and was a later, Lush thing) and you could go chat to the Constantines. I think that's largely the cleverness of the marketing, if that doesn't sound too cynical.

I expected the book to be more about the tracing of Mark Constantine's family history and tracking down his absentee father, but it was interwoven with a more straightforward biography. Except that it is not straightforward because it is written by someone who has been a friend of Mark's since childhood in Weymouth, a friend, room mate and someone who has done work for him. I would say Mark's best mate but there is the oddity of him choosing a best man, described also as a friend from childhood (but who I don't think is mentioned anywhere else in the book) and not especially cut out for the job unless you want to believe Jeff Osment's generous rationalisation.

At any rate the two strands do work together as that's the point... the absence of his father was a significant and known influence on him (as must have been his mother's different but also poor choices) The book shows how easily and how quickly things can go downhill. And I think, the difference that having good people with good resources around you can compensate (Jeff and his family, Mo and her family) And the further education system too.

I had long had Anita Roddick pegged as a visionary arsehole (there you go, not such a headmasterish tone now eh Anita?) even before the ethical red line crossing that so enraged Constantine after they owed and admired one another so much (although there is that thought that it happened because her judgment was impaired through illness). I think it is there in this book that, ethics aside (can't see him making that mistake), some of the same traits might apply to him too. And some which may just be his (I know some of it is told to be funny but boy, it bears repeating the man has good people around him)

Some of the book goes into detail which might mind-numb a Lushie and often doesn't add anything at all to the story. (Although I think I might understand why it is there) But it's a feelgood book. We... and Jeff and Mark... are in a way left with a lot of questions but the story of the detective work done by a friend as a gift and what it leads to is very touching.