Ready For Absolutely Nothing: ‘If you like Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner, you’ll like this’ The Times

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For her part, Susannah says that rather than being cathartic, writing this book has been a learning experience and also given her a new sense of freedom. The publicity flyer sums the book up well: ‘You might think you know Susannah Constantine, but you may be surprised to learn the truth. That she made her name as a “style guru” from What Not to Wear, is actually the least interesting thing about her.’ I do love Lincolnshire and still think of it as my home,” says Susannah, who fell in love with the county from the age of four when her family rented The Priory, a “gentrified farmhouse” in the shadow of the historic seat of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland as a weekend retreat. Her book shares a collection of candid tales from many memorable experiences; from Margaret Thatcher and the Queen having a tussle over a teapot at Balmoral and holidays on Mustique with Princess Margaret (while dating her son David Linley), to how she met and became best friends with Elton John – all told with sharp wit and eye-opening frankness. I didn’t have any opinions of my own at the time. I was literally not a fully formed person in any shape or form. The only way I could become a fully formed person, as I understood it then, was if I had a husband!”

Susannah Constantine, our loved style guru and one half of the outrageously popular television programme, What Not to Wear, spent her youth entangled in glitz and glamour. Susannah's very first memoir is filled to the brim with scandalous stories, jaw-dropping royal relationships and star-studded encounters from pop stars to the fashion greats. But beneath it all is a woman who is still getting to know herself, even after falling in love at first sight, presenting one of the most monumental television programmes ever and having Princess Margaret as a second mother figure. Reflecting on her life, Susannah recognises that moving to Sussex 16 years ago has seen her life go full circle. Shewd, funny, ideally candid and written with great confidence, brio and aplomb. A feisty, thought-provoking delight William Boyd

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The years of being on television and living in London were a different version of me, almost like someone in the wrong skin. Now I like a simple life and feel very comfortable in my own skin.

But appearances are deceptive and beneath it all, life had a dark side particularly her mother's mental illness and, her father's struggles with alcoholism. Somehow she had to forge her own life, away from the expectations of others. More than anywhere else, it’s where my heart is and where I feel happiest. When I die, I’d probably like to buried there! Also what is missing for me is the development of her career into TV, as this is where I knew her from. I think this is because she doesn’t cover her relationship with Trinny, which I totally respect, but she mentions becoming an independent woman within her marriage and personally would have liked to know more about that part of her career. Maybe it was too difficult to disentangle from the partnership.READY FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is for fans of The Crown, royal followers, readers of LADY IN WAITING, What Not To Wear fans and anyone who likes a gossipy memoir with bold faced names and a drop dead sense of humor. Daniel Mason’s latest novel is one of those rare books that truly deserves the description “spellbinding”. Its location is a house in the woods of New England, and Mason follows an eclectic cast of characters over four centuries, including painters, poets, psychiatrists, sensational journalists and big-game hunters, and makes their stories both fascinating on their own terms and part of a grander and satisfying picture. There are well-judged observations on colonialism, largely illustrated through the character of the British émigré and farmer Charles Osgood, and Mason’s twist-laden narrative enthrals throughout. Ready for Absolutely Nothing

Shrewd, funny, ideally candid and written with great confidence, brio and aplomb. A feisty, thought-provoking delight' WILLIAM BOYD I have so much respect for Emma and her family, who have such a sense of responsibility and are doing an incredible job as custodians.” However, I’m not someone who can just sit on my laurels and think I’ve had a wonderful life, which is true. I’m always looking ahead, forever curious and asking myself, what’s next? The first step in recognising that you have a problem is when you instinctively know that you have no control of drinking and once you start, you can’t stop. It might only be a bottle of wine, but if you wake up in the morning and feel fear, self-loathing, anxiety and self-hatred, those are red flags. The true me is the person I was when I was a child, someone who likes isolation and solitude and to be in the countryside, and not have to look glamorous every day. That wouldn’t have been afforded.”The second half of the book I found less absorbing, mainly because the timeline was chopped up so much, and interspersed with anecdotes that whilst funny or salacious didn’t really add to the picture of the woman for me. Whilst honest about her problems with alcohol they aren’t put in context. It was more a series of recollections. Wonderfully written, very funny, but more than anything completely genuine' LADY ANNE GLENCONNER, author of Lady in Waiting Belvoir feels like home and I go and stay with the family several times a year. I’m very close to Emma [Manners, the current Duchess of Rutland] and her family as our kids have grown up together.