The Secret Life of a Schoolgirl

This book made a big splash when it was published, there were oodles of headlines screaming, "Richard Burton was a pedophile!" Ah hem... not quite. The only portions worth reading here are the Burton ones, the rest of the tome is one rather large snooze fest. Kingsland lived a teenage life to die for: as a 14 year old school girl in London, she meets Richard Burton, then 29 and starring in various Shakespearean productions at the Old Vic. Not surprisingly, she was instantly attracted to Burton (what female between the ages of 9 and 90 wouldn't be?), and told him she was 17. Then their affair began. It was long afterwards that Kingsland admitted to Richard that she was actually only 14 years of age, but Burton didn't seem to care, and continued making love to the girl for several more months. He finally dumps her, as he dumped all his mistresses of that era: Jean Simmons, Claire Bloom and Susan Strasberg, to name a few of his thousands of conquests. Kingsland writes well and her chapters on Burton are engrossing, to say the least. Richard comes off as a drunken but charming cad, and his lovemaking prowess seems to have been rather limited: a slam, bam, thank you, ma'am sort of guy. But when you look like that, who is going to complain? There are some problems with dates, the author puts Burton in London when he wasn't there, and he was certainly not playing Hamlet at the Vic in 1954!I can think of worse things than to be deflowered by Richard Burton, even if he should have done the proper thing and waited until this girl was out of school. If you're into Burton, this will do you nicely.

This delightfully lusty memoir's core bit of cheap gossip is a secret she's kept for more than 40 years: she lost her virginity to Richard Burton. After a rather shaky beginning, Kingsland settles down to a slower pace, pulling readers into a lush background tale of her parents' life in India during the era of the Raj. When Partition forced them back to England, her father was devastated by the change in their circumstances and comforted himself with women and writing poetry. Her mother became agoraphobic in defense - until their fortunes were changed by their improbably huge winnings in a football pool, which allowed them to move from the provincial Cornwall into London.The episodes surrounding her relationship with Burton, when he was a stage star and she was a star-struck, infatuated 14yo schoolgirl, are written with insight that can only be gained by the passage of all the intervening years.Charming and evocative coming-of-age memoir.

Don't be fooled by the slightly salacious title--this is a gorgeous memoir that's sexy without being trashy. Rosemary Kingsland tells a truly unique coming-of-age story: raised in the English Raj, she and her family move back to England from India when the Empire falls, only to live in poverty, first in the misty wilds of Cornwall (the descriptions in this part are among the most enchanting of the book) and then in grimy post-war London. Her family is like something out of "Long Day's Journey Into Night", full of frustration, alcoholism and violence, but she renders them fully human and sympathetic. Of course, the most shocking part of the book is about her affair, at age 14, with Richard Burton. An inveterate womanizer, Burton manages to seduce young Rosemary while simultaneously carrying on other affairs. The story of their relationship is surprising, but the author appears to have no bitterness or anger towards Burton, and he comes across as surprisingly sad, despite his dashing ways and handsome looks. Overall, this is a rare literary memoir that is also compulsively readable and provocative. I highly recommend it.

A wonderfully poetic and lyrical memoir beginning in India, where Kingsland was born. Her teenaged affair with Richard Burton is certainly good and even "delicious" reading, but it's the story of her life, and of her family, that keeps you turning the pages long after midnight. This will be my most recommended book to friends this year!

Not salacious in any way, this is a touching memoir that focuses on a bittersweet childhood and adolescence. Naturally the teenage romance with the older Charismatic Burton is the shocking and exciting factor, but there is more to enjoy in this book than just this relationship. Rosemary's descriptions and tales of her family and environment thrilled me from beginning to end.Like all good memoirs, this one generously reveals the author's individual perspective: we are allowed to climb into the window and visit her life.I enjoyed the book!