Nicholas Lezard

If Lady Mendl didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent her

The flamboyant hostess and ‘psychic’ interior decorator does seem like a comic creation – but she was real enough, and perhaps madder than Ludwig Bemelmans lets on

The immortal Elsie de Wolfe – possessor of psychic powers and a life force close to insanity. [Alamy]
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  • To the One I Love Best

    Ludwig Bemelmans

    Pushkin Press, pp. 285, £9

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