THE LITTLE PRINCESSES

Already an assured success (in its appearance in the Ladies Home Journal) and the midsummer selection of the Book of the Month Club, this story of the little princesses Lilibet and Margaret Rose by their former governess has the fascination of inside intimacy, allows no criticism even faint to blur the royal image or the ideal of domestic serenity maintained by the King and Queen. Crawfie, who was appointed as governess when her charges were five and two respectively, tells all about their Christmases, lessons, trips and clothes (simplicity was always stressed); she contrasts their temperaments- the sweetness of Lilibet and the brightness of Margaret Rose; she follows the historic events which were to succeed the death of the King and Edward's abdication, the regretted move to Buckingham Palace and the attempt to give the girls a normal childhood; the war- and the common experience of gas masks and ration books; Elizabeth's first awareness of her cousin Philip and her love for him which eventually ended in marriage; Margaret Rose's highly social life; Elizabeth's baby... The glamor of royalty by proxy, this emphasizes also its sadder life- the forfeit of privacy, the obligations of royal responsibility. A wide American audience is indicated- which will be rivalled only by Uncle David's story which is to follow.