Queen Bees
Six Brilliant and Extraordinary Society Hostesses Between the Wars – A Spectacle of Celebrity, Talent, and Burning Ambition
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
LIMITED TIME OFFER
Get 3 months for £0.99/mo
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.
Queen Bees
Narrated by:
Carole Boyd
Buy Now for £12.99
-
Narrated by:
-
Carole Boyd
-
By:
-
Siân Evans
About this listen
'SO ENTERTAINING' THE TIMES
'GOSSIPY, LIGHT AND FUN' TLS
Queen Bees looks at the lives of six remarkable women who made careers out of being society hostesses, including Lady Astor, who went on to become the first female MP, and Mrs Greville, who cultivated relationships with Edward VII, as well as Lady Londonderry, Lady Cunard, Laura Corrigan and Lady Colefax. Written with wit, verve and heart, Queen Bees is the story of a form of societal revolution, and the extraordinary women who helped it happen.
In the aftermath of the First World War, the previously strict hierarchies of the British class system were weakened. For a number of ambitious, spirited women, this was the chance they needed to slip through the cracks and take their place at the top of society as the great hostesses of the time. In an age when the place of women was uncertain, becoming a hostess was not a chore, but a career choice, and though some of the hostesses' backgrounds were surprisingly humble, their aspirations were anything but. During the inter-war years these extraordinary women ruled over London society from their dining tables and salons - entertaining everyone from the Mosleys to the Mitfords, from millionaires to maharajahs, from film stars to royalty - and their influence can still be felt today.
(P)2016 John Murray Press©2016 Siân Evans
Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
So entertaining - and there's lots of insider fun to be had... Excels at anecdotes and punchlines... The strength of Queen Bees is its wealth of detail and its author's nose for a human story... This book dances in and out of its subject to the sound of plate-smashing, cut-glass gossip, ukeleles, Beecham's orchestras, jazz bands, Nazi anthems and bombs. "I've been to a marvellous party," wrote Noël Coward. Thanks to Queen Bees, we can feel as though we were there too.
The book, like their parties, is often "enormous fun"
Delightful... Crammed with fascinating anecdotes
If guest lists and gossip columns, invitations and address books, seating plans and social mountaineering tick your box, this is the book for you.
Rich in anecdote... a fascinating account... Group biography is a difficult trick to pull off, but Evans is deft with her interweaving of narrative and history...
This is a whirl of a book, gossipy, light and fun
Evans's pacy account of these intrepid social lion-hunters sparkles with famous names
Gloriously gossipy... A snapshot of a bygone age from Gosford Park-style big country house parties to dancing until dawn in Park Lane mansions long demolished.
The individual characters of these unusual women are well delineated and all played significant roles in their time... An entertaining "spectacle of celebrity, talent, and burning ambition".
An irresistible and witty account
A compelling portrait of six inspiring women
Wonderfully readable
An exciting read, Evans has painted a compelling portrait of six inspiring women.
Evans makes a good case for her hostesses' importance as purveyors of soft power: the artistic, cultural and political reach of their address books, she argues had a profound impact on modern British society. All were marvellously quotable, as spiteful as they were ambitious, mistresses of the apparently throwaway remark designed to draw blood, but their success was due as much to their status and fortunes as to their brilliance. One of the pleasures of books like these is that you close them with a feeling of overwhelming gratitude for your own mundane life
Superb
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you Sian Evans for a delightful ‘read’
History in a delicious form
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very interesting yet sad. Really enjoyed book. Highly recommended.
Excellent book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A throughly enjoyable listen. I Would highly recommend this audio book
Brilliant
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Intriguing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.