Praise for Her Lotus Year
"French’s book—beautifully told through meticulous historical research and examination of contemporary literature and film—gives the reader a vivid picture of what China must have been like for an American expat in the 1920s, and in fact tells a more interesting story." —The New York Times
"Where does an unhappily married woman go in 1924 to seek peace of mind? To China, for adventure and glamour. What happens to her after this mysterious “lotus year”? She becomes none other than the Duchess of Windsor. A fascinating and very fun read." –Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of Lady Tan's Circle of Women and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
"Riveting and fascinating, Paul French has put flesh on the bones in his detailed account of what Wallis really did in her ‘Lotus Year.'" –Anne Sebba, New York Times bestselling author of That Woman
“I thought there was nothing left to learn about the Duchess of Windsor. But Paul French has proven me wrong in this book of fascinating revelations.” –Laurence Leamer, New York Times bestselling author of Capote’s Women
“Paul French has discovered a side of Wallis Simpson that few, if any, will ever have known existed... Her Lotus Year is a compelling exploration of a woman too often reduced to mere scandal, offering readers a fresh perspective on one of history's most enigmatic figures.” –Dr. Amanda Foreman, New York Times bestselling author of Georgiana and A World on Fire
“At last a respected writer about China, who knows what he is talking about... [French] fills in the Duchess of Windsor’s year in China with prodigious and convincing research." –Hugo Vickers, bestselling author of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
“Paul French’s expert knowledge of China brings a fresh and humanising perspective to Wallis Simpson, exposing some myths and filling an important gap in the literature.” –Andrew Lownie, bestselling author of Traitor King
"Rumors have always swirled about the two ‘missing’ years Wallis Simpson spent in China. Here, China expert Paul French casts a detailed light on her stay, sifting fact from fiction, with some surprising conclusions." –Anne de Courcy, author of Husband Hunters
“Wallis Simpson’s time in China between 1924 and 1925 has been too long shrouded in rumor and innuendo. Thank God, then, for Paul French, whose magisterial, beautifully written and impeccably researched account of the future Duchess of Windsor’s activities during this period should henceforth be regarded as the definitive account. Forget the so-called “China Dossier”, which probably never existed anyway; this is all you need to know about the woman who was never queen.” –Alexander Larman, author of The Windsors at War
"Expertly woven into the backdrop of 1920s China, French’s new study challenges the clichés surrounding Wallis Simpson to reveal her in an intriguing new light." -Julia Boyd, author of A Dance with the Dragon
"Remarkable... [French] is brilliant at telling Wallis's story... I loved every page of it." -Selina Hastings, author of Sybille Bedford
"Lush and spicy... [French] strikingly renders an oft-fetishized time and place, countering the familiar mythologizing of both the Roaring Twenties, with its Eurocentric literary obsessions, and the path of China from dynastic to communist rule.” –Kirkus Reviews
"Biographer Paul French forensically takes apart the most damning evidence – the China dossier – and proves that the stories made up around Wallis were never anything more than desperate and shabby inventions." –Daily Mail
"Deeply-researched and engaging...There are few writers who can populate a historical narrative with fully fleshed-out people and almost palpably real settings as French... a story to savor." -Asian Review of Books
“Evokes Shanghai of the 1920s … Recommended for readers interested in Simpson as well as China-U.S. diplomatic history.” –Booklist
"A bright, shining, lively snapshot, delightful to read." -The Spectator (UK)
“[French] … writes about Simpson with the empathy a biographer should give his subject, flaws and all. Most of all, French brings a feminist lens to Simpson after being remembered for decades in misogynistic terms. Simpson would undoubtedly approve.” —Cha: An Asian Literary Journal
“A century on from her ‘lotus year’, it is time to reassess Wallis not as a wicked temptress but as an intelligent, ambitious woman who found herself caught in an impossible situation.” —Alexander Larman, The Spectator (UK)
"A new account of the months Simpson spent in China debunks the well-worn gossip about sexual adventures and opium addiction and even invites admiration for a ‘buccaneering’ woman." —The Observer
"Intriguing…erudite…and ably described by Paul French, Wallis Windsor’s courage, charm, capability and vivacity were impeccable.” —Nicky Haslam, The Oldie
"A new look at a famous figure, set against a very specific time and place. [Her Lotus Year] brings new perspective to both Wallis Simpson and 1920s legation Peking." —Meaghan Walsh Gerard
2024-10-11
An account of the conditions and context of Wallis Simpson’s yearlong sojourn in China.
About a decade before Simpson became the Duchess of Windsor, she was Wallis Spencer, edging toward divorce from her drunk, abusive husband, Win. A lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, Win was stationed for a time in China with the South China Patrol. Having first arrived in China in 1924 to mend her tumultuous marriage, Wallis remained in the emerging, embattled Chinese Republic for a year that she later referred to as transformative. French, author of the bestsellingMidnight in Peking, traces Wallis’ movement between storied hotels and international enclaves in Hong Kong, Canton (Guangzhou), Tientsin (Tianjin), Shanghai, and, finally, Peking (Beijing), with his subject’s travels, friendships, and social frolicking forming the spine of his exposition. However, because of limitations on access to archives concerning both the British royal family and Chinese history, the author must rely on sources that sit adjacent to Wallis, including a series of British and American novelists and other expat socialites whose escapades may have been co-opted to fuel sordid rumors about Wallis during the abdication of King Edward VIII. Potential for intrigue and revelation—Was Wallis Spencer an intrepid documents courier for the U.S. Navy?—fizzles into lush and spicy but inconsequential details of the social milieu. In a text riddled with “might have”s, “could not have”s, and “it is possible”s, Wallis does not make for a transparent, substantial, or thoroughly compelling subject. Instead, she feels like a shadow with a hypothetical filling, the import to her trajectory of the year under study only partially convincing. French does, however, strikingly render an oft-fetishized time and place, countering the familiar mythologizing of both the Roaring Twenties, with its Eurocentric literary obsessions, and the path of China from dynastic to communist rule.
An occasionally entertaining look at a little-known bridge between American, British, and Chinese history.
