Never Shaken, Never Stirred (The Story of Ann Fleming and Laura, Duchess of Marlborough)

‘Reindorp has done a stellar job of balancing their privilege and pathos.’ - The Lady

‘Everyone in this book seems to be awash with booze.’ - The Telegraph

Glamorous, fun and packed with scandalous anecdotes and exclusive interviews, Never Shaken, Never Stirred tells the story of two extraordinary sisters, Ann and Laura Charteris, who made marrying well an art form.

While Laura eventually became the Duchess of Marlborough, Ann’s third and final husband was the journalist Ian Fleming, who she inspired to start writing the spy franchise he would become famous for. Along the way there were marriages, and affairs, with some of the biggest names of the twentieth century. The sisters’ collective husbands included a duke, four peers, Jacqueline Kennedy’s former brother-in-law and the alleged illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth’s uncle. There were also passionate flings with a Labour leader, a press baron and a cluster of film and literary stars.

History would come to define Ann and Laura by the men they married, but their marriages are only part of the story. From royals to writers, film stars to politicians, aristocrats to academics, the Charteris sisters knew everybody that mattered, their countless friendships allowing them a privileged ringside seat during many momentous historical moments of the last century.

Blazing a glamorous trail with their beauty, charm, riotous behaviour and energetic love affairs, the aristocratic Charteris sisters alternately delighted and scandalised British society, and their lives continue to do so to this day.