The Countess from Kirribilli: The mysterious and free-spirited literary sensation who beguiled the world

by Joyce Morgan

She was Australian born, an international bestselling author and a member of the glamorous literary, intellectual and society salons of late nineteenth and early twentieth century London and EuropeShe was 'amused, cynical, ironic, loving, gay, ferocious, cold, ardent but never gentle'. She was a whirlwind. She created around her the atmosphere of a Court at which her friends were either in disgrace or favour, a butt or a blessing.Elizabeth von Arnim may have been born on the shores of Sydney Harbour, but it was in Victorian London that she discovered society and society discovered her. She made her Court debut before Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace, was pursued by a Prussian count and married into the formal world of the European aristocracy. It was the novels she wrote about that life that turned her into a literary sensation on both sides of the Atlantic and had her likened to Jane Austen.Her marriage to the count produced five children but little happiness. Her second marriage to Bertrand Russell's brother was a disaster. But by then she had captivated the great literary and intellectual circles of London and Europe. She brought into her orbit the likes of Nancy Astor, Lady Maud Cunard, her cousin Katherine Mansfield and other writers such as E.M. Forster, Somerset Maugham and H.G. Wells, with whom it was said she had a tempestuous affair.Elizabeth von Arnim was an extraordinary woman who lived during glamorous, exciting and changing times that spanned the innocence of Victorian Sydney and finished with the march of Hitler through Europe. Joyce Morgan brings her to vivid and spellbinding life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Australia

419 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 2, 2021

Reviews

[Tundra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. A biography that is both enchanting and engaging. This book weaves together the life of a fascinating woman with European historical events and the modern literary movement of England, providing the reader with a rich contextual framework (from a particular perspective) of the late 19th and early 20th century. Mary Beauchamp (Countess von Arnim, Elizabeth von Arnim or the Countess Russell - depending on the time period of her life!) was an extraordinary, independent and resourceful feminist of her times.
I have read two of her novels, Vera and The Enchanted April, and would certainly like to read more. How her novels reflect moments of her real life create a new level of interest and intrigue in how she portrayed fictional characters. I was continually stopping to check connections between people and places. This also led me to want to expand my reading on a number of other authors, including Katherine Mansfield, D H Lawrence and H.G. Wells.
While there is plenty of detail in this biography I felt Morgan enabled the reader to keep track of people, locations and events by revisiting and reminding the reader without being overly repetitious.

[Christina Baehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an intelligent, carefully researched, open-minded biography of an author who it is very difficult to speak of — even her name is complicated. Born Mary Beauchamp in Sydney to a Tasmanian mother and a father from New South Wales, she grew up in England and denied being Australian. She married a Prussian count and had German children (this would make for many heartbreaking situations for her family in the first half of the 20th century) as well as English children. She wrote with piercing contempt of “the Victorians” while she herself was born in 1866. She wrote books and reviews anonymously or under her own name or under pseudonyms, some of which she strenuously denied writing, even to those closest to her. She wrote a memoir which focused on her pets and fabricated events. She invited two perceptive young budding novelists to be her children’s tutors, both of whom wrote somewhat devastating critiques of her personality (EM Forster and Hugh Walpole), though they also remembered her as pushing them to think more clearly and called her marvellous company. She was fiercely jealous of her privacy and obviously hurt when people wrote scathingly of her, but she also had a biting wit and left blistering reviews of many of her long term friends (of one of her most enduring friends, HG Wells, “a small
clever man”). She claimed that every single character she wrote was a broken off piece of her own interior life except for one (the monstrous Wemyss, from VERA).
I don’t envy any biographer this subject. This biographer wisely steers away from drawing too many of her own conclusions, restricting herself to accurately chronicling the exalted social life and European peregrinations of the author, as well as her emotional ups and downs and her literary inspirations.
One gets the impression that the Edwardian literary scene was a very cruel place to be. We see authors like Lawrence, Woolf, Mansfield, Wells, West, falling in and out of love and swapping lovers, cannibalising each others’ personal lives for literary characters and memoirs, hosting each other at house parties, gossiping about each others’ separations and affairs, writing downright nasty or glowing reviews of each others’ works, without any real sense of stability. Arnim herself, as a straight serial monogamist, forever hoping that the next lover will actually be a decent person to her, comes off as somewhat conventional in comparison.
The most surprising thing about her was really her perennial cheerfulness, which seemed ever ready to spring back up again after an abusive marriage, traumatic birth, financial disaster, family tragedy, bad review, or World War. She talks of happiness a great deal. One of her favourite quotations was from Psalm 23: “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” She believed in God, took great solace in beautiful churches and church music (she almost became a professional organist in her youth), sometimes sitting in contemplation in St Paul’s, London, for most of the day. She was not doctrinally a Christian, for all that.
I highly recommend the two novels of hers that I have read. THE ENCHANTED APRIL is Arnim at her most transcendently witty and hopeful, seeing beauty as the answer to all our ills. VERA is a tiny claustrophobic masterpiece of horror about the torture of an emotionally abusive marriage (it was so accurate that her second husband considered suing her for it - his lawyer convinced him it would be madness to publicly admit he had recognised himself in the novel).
I’m grateful to Joyce Morgan for making the effort to untangle her story through the use of primary sources. Arnim’s work deserves to be remembered, and her ability to find and cherish joy throughout her messy and often traumatic life is worth learning from.

[Robert Godden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't written a review here for years but enjoyed this one so much.
An excellent book in tone and speed, takes you through the life of this forgotten author in a manner that shows her wit and intelligence.
Make you wonder who else Australia and the world has forgotten.
She's seen as feminist author but really, she's a humanist and her characters reflect her times.
A parade of people make unexpected appearances - HG Wells really surprised me - and seriously, the whole book would be worthwhile if it just contained her two sentence thoughts on James Joyce's Ulysses.
The author has a light comfortable touch, it's like being told a story by someone you know.
This was the last unread book in my house, I picked it up out of desperation as it looked like something I would not enjoy. Very glad I did.

[Margaret Galbraith · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason Goodreads seemed to think I’d finished this earlier this morning but nope I’ve just finished it. What a wonderful read and so well researched about this fascinating woman ‘Elizabeth’ as she was known by her books. 21 books written by her and still no one really knew much about her at the time she wrote them. A diminutive force of nature who seemed to take things to the edge in her own life as well as her writings.

This book is chock full of other literary writers of the time and she knew them all. Katherine Mansfield was her dear cousin. There are so many names she was linked with but you’ll just have to read it yourself to find out the mass of who she either loved or just had as an acquaintance. She lived though turbulent times of both wars. At her death in 1941 the couldn’t even get her age or birth place correct she was so elusive yet will never be forgotten. It mentions her books ate out of print but some seem to be in the Gutenberg Project and I’m sure I’ll have to check there.

The author mentions in her acknowledgments what will be left behind by us for future authors wanting to research lives. We use email, texts and the media but not much is written down like this author and others found in Elizabeth’s journals and hand written manuscripts. All written with her trusted fountain pen! Such a shame we will just disappear into oblivion. Even our photos are on our phones or computer and many years will be lost forever. Not like the black and white little ones I have from before and after I was born in 1954. Not many of us print hard copies anymore. We are in a ‘dying’ age for historians or anyone trying to do research.

[Kirkwall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging subject (Mary Beauchamp), but a strange read insofar as the opening and closing chapters were well written. The intervening chapters, however, read like the author had organised all her relevant factoids in chronological order and dropped them onto the page.

The result was a lot of annoying short sentences following each other that with a little closer editing would have made for a more enjoyable read. And sentences that started with the same word or name, like "Mary went into the room. Mary sat and read the letter."

And paragraphs that went nowhere other than being a place for the author to drop chronologically relevant facts. The subject goes to her home in Germany in one par and in the very next she's visiting parents in England with no discussion about the reason for her travel (presumably the subject left a gap in her journals and the author had nothing to go on but didn't feel she could note this or move away from the chronology).

Family members admired Hitler in one chapter and despised him in another, all unexplained and unremarked upon.

I know there was an editor working on the book - I'm just not sure what the author wanted her achieve. It seems to me a lot of the book needs a good editorial seeing-to. It was like the literary version of a heavily rutted gravel road.

The subject with her family left Kirribilli when she was very young and she never returned, sometimes disavowing her birth place when she was older. Presumably the title is a marketing ploy and not meant to actually reflect how anyone other than the author saw her.

But all that being said, Mary Beauchamp ('Beecham' in the way these things are pronounced) is an interesting subject and a dip into the first few chapters will give an uncertain reader a taste on which they can make up their own minds.

All this being said, I did finish the book and with no real regrets.

[Hermien · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about the life of Elizabeth von Arnim.

[Susan Mackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening story about an intelligent, witty Australian writer who was light years ahead of her time. I'll be buying some Elizabeth von Armin books today.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I hadn't heard of any of Elizabeth von Armin's 21 books, which seem to range from whimsy to some rather dark domestic themes and back to memoir again. In a literary biography, there is a narrow line for authors to tread between giving the flavour of their subject's writings for those who have not read them on the one hand, and delving into a more detailed analysis that assumes that the reader is familiar with them on the other. I think that Morgan handled this well, demonstrating the variety that can be found in von Armin's writing, integrating these largely-autobiographical works into her telling of von Armin's life, and encouraging the reader to actually read her books.

For me, Morgan has piqued my curiosity sufficiently to seek out one or two of Elizabeth von Armin's books, and Gabrielle Carey's biography as well. For a biographer, I'm sure that means 'mission accomplished'.

For my complete review, please visit:
http://residentjudge.com/2021/07/28/t...

[Martha Birch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure about this book though I found it easy to get through. Some of the material felt unconnected and filled a lot of chapters and I was a bit tired of all the names she mingled with. My impression of her is of a rather narcissistic woman and was quite surprised that her numerous children seemed fairly well adjusted. It was a relief to finally come to the books ending and I did like the excellent photos. Now to tackle our book club discussion to which we have invited the author!

[Gabrielle Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant portrayal of an unknown character

Wonderful book . Very well written and researched. The history spanning continents and families were riveting. My curiosity has been aroused to read Elizabeth von Arnim books

[Gretchen Bernet-Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb glimpse into real life and high society more than a century ago. Wonderfully written and well compiled, the lives, loves, hates, affairs and deaths all there. From Australia to Europe and beyond. If you are looking for a substantial read, this is the book. The narrative starts off with Kirribilli Point in Sydney Australia where Mary Annette Beauchamp was born although she was dubbed May and would eventually be known as Elizabeth. She became an author of note, in many ways a prickly and decisive woman, also a risk-taker and wrong-decision maker. But what a magnificent life! Apart from her terrible taste in men, she was a prodigious and successful writer and traveller as well as mother of five children whom she packed off to boarding school while she lived a high society whirlwind. She travelled Europe, knew and talked with famous authors, artists, royals and influential people and was a celebrity herself. The chapters are not written like a diary nor are they titillating, Elizabeth comes across as a self-possessed woman who is easily swayed by mostly unsuitable men. She suffered losses, one particularly haunted her because she exiled a daughter and they never met again. Of course, the First World War features and there wasn’t a single person who didn’t suffer from its destructive force.

Elizabeth, having German connections marrying a Prussian, Count Henning von Arnim, became Countess von Arnim and was always on high alert. She later became Dowager Countess Russell and absolutely nothing stopped her writing. She had early success (which continued) as an author and playwright and I would like to know more about her London theatre production. So, from London, Switzerland, the Riviera (with Somerset Maugham, J.B. Priestley and E.H. Shepard) Elizabeth kept one step ahead of Hitler’s war. There is never a dull moment with this woman who seemed to connect easily and know everyone and they knew her. Elizabeth seemed to be the sounding board for many famous people’s rollercoaster relationships. Some snippets may be anecdotal but today she would have been followed closely on social media just as her circle was agog at King Edward VIII wanting to marry commoner Mrs Wallis Simpson. Adamant she was British, Elizabeth would say she was only born in Australia. The black and white photographs in the middle of the book are fascinating, as is the history they represent. Elizabeth loved her garden but did she actually plant it? Once she attended a new Wagner music festival but found his works long-winded and said "If Tolstoy had written operas he’d have written this one."

Elizabeth retained a "passion for secrecy and anonymity which never left her." She had a famous New Zealand cousin Katherine Mansfield but there was a gap between them. There is great mention of Elizabeth’s love for her numerous dogs of different breeds but not much mention of her many novels. She herself read voraciously and quoted Psalm 23 "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Quote "It reflected more her determined optimism than piety." She moved in the intellectual and literary circles of London and Europe at the peak of her writing power and H.G. Wells was a confidante. A doyenne entitled to name-drop, Elizabeth would make a good dinner guest but would probably lampoon you afterwards. I think she was an unpredictable woman, changeable, if one country’s high society got boring she’d sail to another. America and Hollywood wooed her with Bette Davis and Claude Rains receiving Oscar nominations for their roles based on her book. I would like to read "Mr Skeffington" by this Elizabeth, an ode to ageing which loomed unforgivably on her horizon. An astounding biography from Joyce Morgan, best read when you have long hours ahead of you to slowly absorb its myriad and fascinating contents. A witty and eloquent author, we should know more about Elizabeth, Countess von Arnim.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a "just one more chapter before lights out" type of book - for me anyway. This book was set for my book club discussion so I persevered for about half way before giving up. I think the summary (pasted below) was a bit misleading. I admire what she achieved, but not the person. I also found the book heavy with too many trivial facts (such as what colour dress she wore to a music recital) and details about the famous people in her life, which dragged her life story out too much. The fact they were there was interesting, but a lot of the facts would have been better in their own biographies.

She was Australian born, an international bestselling author and a member of the glamorous literary, intellectual and society salons of late nineteenth and early twentieth century London and Europe She was 'amused, cynical, ironic, loving, gay, ferocious, cold, ardent but never gentle'. She was a whirlwind. She created around her the atmosphere of a Court at which her friends were either in disgrace or favour, a butt or a blessing. Elizabeth von Arnim may have been born on the shores of Sydney Harbour, but it was in Victorian London that she discovered society and society discovered her. She made her Court debut before Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace, was pursued by a Prussian count and married into the formal world of the European aristocracy. It was the novels she wrote about that life that turned her into a literary sensation on both sides of the Atlantic and had her likened to Jane Austen. Her marriage to the count produced five children but little happiness. Her second marriage to Bertrand Russell's brother was a disaster. But by then she had captivated the great literary and intellectual circles of London and Europe. She brought into her orbit the likes of Nancy Astor, Lady Maud Cunard, her cousin Katherine Mansfield and other writers such as E.M. Forster, Somerset Maugham and H.G. Wells, with whom it was said she had a tempestuous affair. Elizabeth von Arnim was an extraordinary woman who lived during glamorous, exciting and changing times that spanned the innocence of Victorian Sydney and finished with the march of Hitler through Europe. Joyce Morgan brings her to vivid and spellbinding life.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Countess of Kirribilli: The mysterious and free-spirited literary sensation who beguiled the world” by Joyce Morgan AND “Only Happiness Here: In Search of Elizabeth von Arnim” by Gabrielle Carey.
Given the subject of both of these books is Elizabeth von Arnim (aka Mary Annette Beauchamp aka (Countess) Elizabeth Russell) I have decided on a joint review having read them back-to-back.

The author of 21 books and a much written about character (she employed EM Forster as a tutor for her children and is said to have had an affair with HG Wells) von Arnim makes an excellent subject. Despite the fact that her works are often said to be ‘forgotten to history’, her life story has been the subject of a number of biographies and academic studies, so much so that it is hard to imagine what more there is to say that has not already been said. And yet these two books are good examples of very different approaches and, therefore very different reading experiences.

Morgan’s “Countess of Kirribilli is a very well researched, largely chronologically driven biography with some emphasis on von Arnim’s links with Australia. Carey’s exploration, while equally well researched and using many of the same sources and quotes is a far more philosophical journey, a more personal examination of von Arnim’s writing style and the works themselves. As Carey herself states her intention was not to write ‘a conventional biography’ but rather to share her personal love for this woman and her works.

Overall, I enjoyed both of these books but with some reservations. Morgan’s Countess of Kirribilli, bookended by two very good chapters, became a little too fact driven and impersonal for me. An information dump around dates and events. By contrast Carey’s Only Happiness suffered a little from the injection of the authors own life into the work and I wasn’t really convinced re her theory of happiness. Nevertheless, I am glad I entered into the life of Elizabeth von Arnim through these two very different lenses.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those - a podcast mentioned this title and then the library had it so I reserved it and forgot about it - journeys. And by the time it made it into my account, I was not really in the mood to read it. ☹️

It took me a while to get into it.

She is very interesting, had an amazing life, and is yet another popular female author erased from history. [plenty of mediocre male authors are still on the classic lists...] But the writing just didn’t work for me. It was almost a slog to get through.

I think it is disingenuous to claim her as Australian; she did not consider herself an Aussie. Never mentioned it in her own memoirs. So I think the title does NOT work for me. It’s not even alliterative, you know? if that is what they were going for. She left Kirribilli when she was a toddler.

The photos were dumped in the final appendix, and really should have been scattered through the text. I get why you do that on a cost basis in a physical book, but I was reading an ebook and there is no reason why they could not be in the narrative.

I would love to read Vera - and see how much her gothic novel inspired Rebecca. [oooh they are free on Amazon. nice] - runs off to download them all

3 stars

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comprehensive, well researched, cross referenced and interesting to read about another (long gone) era. Lockdown read (here in Melbourne, 200 days and counting).
The Countess lived a privileged life, even as a youngster in Australia, interesting to read about a 'privileged' woman of the time. She travelled extensively through Europe, and even to the US. Whilst she might have had money (although not always a steady income - which is why she started writing) she fell into the social mores of the time re marriage, raising children.
Lots of name dropping, which gets a bit tedious towards the end, as there are just snippets.
I haven't read her books, not sure I will.

[Rebecca Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

The title is rather misleading as Elizabeth only lived in Australia for her first three years. But she was an interesting character, whose life intersected with many of the leading lights of her day, including her lover HG Wells and unlamented second husband Frank Russell, elder brother of Bertrand. The writing I found distracting, the use of very short sentences made it feel a bit jerky. But still an interesting read.

[Jill Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of Elizabeth von Armin, but found her a very interesting subject for a biography. From the quotes, I suspect she was a better writer than Joyce Morgan, who is fairly pedestrian. I look forward to reading something of Elizabeth's to better understand her great success and the subsequent disappearance of her books. Her extraordinary life and her interactions with celebrities of the day make for a good read - and the photos are terrific.

[Margaret Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Countess from Kirribilli led a fascinating life, meeting anyone who was anybody along the way. The story is obviously well researched along with a detailed index and notations. However the journalistic style of the writing felt a little flat, hence 3 stars rather than 4. It did however provide much for book club discussion including Elizabeth's complex character, her relationship with her children, her marriages and affairs.

[Samantha Battams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this book about best selling Australian born author I've never heard of. What a life! Well researched and her life was a bit of a who's who of English literature. Motivated me to want to read some of her books, such as the dark Vera, based on her marriage to narcissist Lord/Count Frank Russell and The Enchanted April, based in Portofino, written after her separation. Her book Mr Skeffington was made into a movie (with Bette Davis), as was The Enchanted April.

[Liz Mutkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Elizabeth before but since my name is the same and I used to live in Kirribilli how could I resist? Such an interesting woman and author living through the tumultuous early 20th century. A really well researched biography. I enjoyed learning about her and now I'll be reading some of her many novels 😊

[Ruth Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Page turner about the double Countess from Australia (ish!) - brilliantly researched and in-depth detail around her worlds across England, Europe and America. A must-read for Bloomsbury fans and those that have yet to discover her writing.

[Rowena Eddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman who led an amazing life. She did not find a lot of personal happiness and would not have been a very pleasant person I think. I read the book too slowly, so I sometimes lost track of family, friends and lovers. A family tree would have helped.

[Susan Richmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting because she is Australia’s most prolific author and very few people have heard of her. Thankfully her books are being reprinted under her name Elizabeth von Armin.

[Ann Koenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of an author that I had never heard of - Elizabeth Von Arnim.

[Jill Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly interesting woman but I found the book tedious after a while with all the nitty gritty detail of her life.

[Jill Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, interesting biography of a very private person. Captures her charm and industry.

[Lee Kofman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a breezy-easy read. Enjoyable, clear and well-researched, but relatively light on a literary and psychological analysis.