Having written a biography of one, earlier, Duchess of Marlborough, I took this book up as it dealt with the only Marlborough duchess to have appeared as an author or biographical subject whom I didn’t know—only to discover that this one married the tenth Duke of Marlborough (1897--1972) only two months before he died. Her memoir was, despite this disappointment, an engaging read about the rich, titled, and Social of Britain during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Full of handy information such as what shade of paint in stable interiors best enhances the color of horses’ eyes (pale green), the book has proved useful as a source of one-or-two-sentence quotes to biographers of better known subjects. Laura certainly knew hordes of people, and, according to her, was loved by many of the men among them. ( )