This biography tells the story of Hazel Lavery, one of London's most influential and beautiful women in the 1920s, a popular society hostess and fervent supporter of Ireland's independence. It details her birth into a wealthy Chicago family, her study of art and her marriage to the artist John Lavery, 24 years her senior. It goes on to examine the Laverys' life in London, where they became popular and entertained many celebrated figures, including Asquith, Bernard Shaw, Churchill, T.P. O'Connor, Beresford, and Shane Leslie, and later by Ramsey MacDonald and Evelyn Waugh. The work chronicles Hazel's assistance of the Irish national cause, using her house in London to play informal host to the Anglo-Irish Conference (1921). By the time of Hazel's death in 1935, the diplomatic links which she had fought to establish had been dismantled by de Valera, and she died believing her life had been utterly without purpose. This biography reveals the restless life of Hazel Lavery to be a pioneering one, drawing on interviews with her acquaintances and her daughter, Alice, and a cache of private correspondence and scrapbooks.
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A very interesting read of a controversial figure in Irish history whose knowledge of and friendship with senior figures of British society made her a significant individual of considerable importance during the course of the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. The closeness of her relationships with Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins are explored and the author was severly criticised at the time of publication. However, family members of the O'Higgins family subsequently backed up the author's conclusions. Her relationship with Collins has been explored before although several authors differ over what was his actual sexual preference. It is interesting that Ramsay MacDonald was wary of her attempts to form a close friendship with him while the two Irish figures were essentially besotted by her. ( )