Those Wild Wyndhams

April 2, 2018
Attorney Renton’s thorough, if less than fully captivating, biography of three high-society sisters who were part of the British cultural and political elite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries provides a portrait of the aristocratic intelligentsia in Victorian and early Edwardian England. Mary (1862–1937), Madeline (1869–1941), and Pamela Wyndham (1871–1928) come across as less vapid, more intellectual proto-Kardashians who were known mostly for being known. Daughters of a conservative politician, the sisters were immortalized in a John Singer Sargent painting and were prominent members of a circle of socially and politically influential friends dubbed the “Souls.” They served as informal confidantes for their husbands and rumored lovers, including Mary’s close “Soul” friend, Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, raising the possibility that they had influence on public policy. By the time they are middle-aged, the Wyndhams’ distraught letters reveal their devastation after WWI killed most of their sons and ended their prewar way of life. Renton uses a light, almost gossipy tone in describing the Souls’ early games of wit and petty squabbles, and pulls no punches in describing Pamela’s literal carpet-biting tantrums or Mary’s coldness toward her progeny. Drawing on an impressive array of family and acquaintance diaries, journals, and letters, Renton attempts to flesh out the Wyndhams to explain both public fascination with them and also their hand in creating pre–WWI British culture, but the famed Wyndham charisma doesn’t quite shine through. This tale of the witty, sparkling privileged set may appeal most to fans of Downton Abbey.

Starred review from May 1, 2018
An elite family faces a vastly changing nation.The three daughters of fabulously wealthy Percy Wyndham and his wife, Madeline, take center stage in Renton's accomplished literary debut, a spirited and captivating history of the lives and loves of aristocrats in Victorian/Edwardian Britain. Drawing on letters, memoirs, histories, and abundant archival sources, the author creates a richly detailed tapestry featuring the three alluring Wyndham sisters: Mary (1862-1937), Madeline (1869-1941) and Pamela (1871-1928). They inhabited an opulent world. Among the family's several residences was Clouds, an enormous sandstone-and-brick edifice boasting five reception rooms (the sky-lit central hall was two stories high), 25 bedrooms, two nurseries, and a separate wing for offices and bedrooms for the indoor staff, numbering around 30. At a time of social and economic upheaval, while other "landed elite" worried over maintaining their estates, "Clouds trumpeted to the world that the Wyndhams were founding a dynasty that would operate at the very heart of power." It was a prime destination for clandestine political brokering, and an invitation to visit, Renton reveals, "was a prize indeed." Madeline, in a flowing gown, smoking Turkish cigarettes, and festooned in scarves and bangles, was "a consummate hostess," providing guests with masseuses, gymnastics classes, and "hand-bound copies of their favorite books at their bedsides." Among those guests was a rarefied clique dubbed the Souls, "a group of very good, fiercely competitive friends, whether in romance, politics or friendship." Extramarital romance flourished. Mary's husband, a philanderer and gambler, flaunted his many mistresses. Mary's liaisons included a relationship--not sexual, Renton maintains--with the prominent politician Arthur Balfour, who rose to become prime minister. Like so many aristocrats, Percy rued reforms that took power from the Lords. Political dissension, he believed, "simply proved how ill-suited the masses were to make decisions about the future of their country." World War I, writes the author, finally drove an irreparable rift "between the generations that fought and those who sent them there, nowhere more so than among the elite."A sparkling family portrait and riveting history.

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June 1, 2018
Renton brings the subjects of John Singer Sargent's famous painting The Wyndham Sisters vividly to life in this captivating collective biography. Beautiful, intelligent, witty, and liberated for their time and place, this charming trio collectively defied Victorian and Edwardian conventions and expectations, setting entirely new standards of acceptable behavior for women in their elevated station of life. Born into immense wealth and privilege, they cut a swath through British society, hobnobbing with fellow aristocrats, major political players, and artistic icons. Mary, confidante and, eventually, lover of Prime Minister Arthur Balfour; Madeline, the gentlest and happiest of the three; and Pamela, the spoiled sophisticate, were all members of the intellectual avant-garde, as illustrated by their membership in The Souls, a free-thinking, somewhat freewheeling, mixed-sex and -class group dedicated to culture, the exchange of ideas, and the then-novel concept of sexual equality. From the zenith of the Victorian era to the disillusioning conclusion of WWI, the Wyndham sisters captured the imaginations of several generations as they exerted tremendous influence over the political, social, and cultural climate of British society.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2018

The exploits of the fictional Crawley sisters of the PBS series Downton Abbey pale in comparison to the colorful, often scandalous lives led by the real Wyndham siblings as recounted by first-time author Renton in this captivating biography. Subjects of a famous portrait by John Singer Sargent, the sisters--vivacious, eccentric Mary (1862-1937); placid, domestic Madeline (1869-1941); and vain, complicated Pamela (1871-1928)--were formative members of the Souls, a group of high-society artists, writers, and statesmen who prided themselves on their intellectual pursuits and witty conversation. Barred by their gender from having direct control over the great affairs of the day, the sisters nonetheless wielded considerable influence through their male siblings, children, husbands, and lovers, as well as through their own social prowess. Renton succeeds superbly in making the sisters sympathetic and likable while still revealing them as defenders of the old order at a time when societal changes such as an expanded franchise and a rising middle class were eroding the traditional power of the British aristocracy. VERDICT This mesmerizing account of three complex women and the family and culture that shaped them is highly recommended for fans of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.--Sara Shreve, Newton, KS

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018

Mary, Madeline, and Pamela: the glorious Wyndham sisters, raised in wealth and opulence, belonging to one of the 400 families that constituted Britain's ruling class, convinced that they were special, the wives and lovers of powerful men, captured by John Singer Sargent and by Henry James in The Spoils of Poynton, and now chronicled by Renton in a work that won Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.