I love journalism, diaries, and gossip, and am fascinated by The Lady’s appointment of author and writer Rachel Johnson as ninth editor of the title, so this book was tailor-made for me and I’m afraid I bounced in my chair in a most un-Ladylike fashion when I got my hands on a copy.
It didn’t disappoint. Johnson’s diary details her first months at the helm, in which she was charged with doubling the magazine’s circulation: her staffing problems, the difficulties in bringing in new readers without alienating long-term ones, and the criticisms she’s faced from one of the directors, Mrs Budworth, about her modernisation of the magazine. Along the way she is charmed by some of the traditions of her new office (two freshly laundered teatowels a day; free cake from PRs) and horrified by others (the hundreds of free holidays staff have been taking in return for gushing write-ups; rambling articles about cobnuts), but does slowly start to bring The Lady into the twenty-first century.
Fast-paced, funny, and somewhat frantic, it all makes for a thoroughly entertaining read.
Get it on Amazon (or somewhere else).
*Many thanks to Fig Tree for the review copy.
