Saturday, August 9, 2008

BOMBAY ANNA : THE REAL STORY AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF THE KING AND I GOVERNESS
by Susan Morgan

The Rogers and Hammerstein 1950s musical The King and I conjures up unforgettable memories. We envision Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner dancing together amongst the people of Siam.
The movie was supposed to portray real life events at that time, but in truth it was mostly fictionalized. But, then again, Anna's life was an invention, too.
Anna Leonowens was born as a mixed-race army brat and lived with her family, in extreme poverty, in India. When she went to work for the King of Siam to teach his children and wives English, in the 1860s, she was not British, as she claimed. That was her first invention. She stayed for five years and then reinvented herself as an author, journalist, teacher, and lecturer living in the United States and Canada.
Bombay Anna is a densely, detailed biography which took author Susan Morgan ten years to research and who found facts that had eluded other writers.
The book has quite an extensive bibliography, an index, two appendices and black and white photographs.
A fascinating account of a remarkable woman.