Queens of Bohemia
Darren Coffield’s new book, “Queens of Bohemia and Other Miss-fits”, with a foreword by Marianne Faithful, was published in 2024 by The History Press ISBN 978 1 80399 574 8.
It contains numerous references to Joan Wyndham and members of her circle, including quotations from Joan’s books. There is a photograph of Joan in her WAAF uniform, which Coffield used as a reference for the caricature of Joan in the end papers of the book, and a map of significant locations for The Chelsea Set which was Joan’s particular sphere of Bohemia.
Devotees of Joan Wyndham’s wartime diaries will enjoy a wider look at the environment she inhabited and an insight into the ways the various levels of Bohemia, from haut to low, cross-pollinated.
In addition to his extensive reading of his subject, resulting in an inspirational bibliography, Coffield conducted numerous interviews with survivors and observers of the “Miss-fits”, including Joan’s daughter, Camilla Shivarg, which give readers of the book the feeling that they are guests at a particularly brilliant and gossipy dinner party.
Our story begins in 1920s London
Extract 1
Extract 2
Joan in the WAAF
The Chelsea Set
Endpaper
Love Lessons
Joan’s first book – the diaries of an adventurous young woman discovering love in war-torn London.
Love is Blue
In volume 2 of her memoirs, Joan serves in the WAAF and continues her romantic adventures.
Anything Once
In the third volume of her memoirs, Joan continues to flout convention in postwar London.
Dawn Chorus
In a prequel to her 3-volume memoir, Joan tells the story of her outrageous upper-class childhood.
An exhilarating and irresistablely funny book… very much for those who were young and happy and suffering in the War years as well as for their daughters who wonder what exactly mummy got up to…I enjoyed it enormously