The Bolter, by Frances Osborne (Virago, Ł18.99)

Drawing on family letters and diaries, Frances Osborne recounts the scandalous, tragic life of her great-grandmother, Idina Sackville, who 'bolted' from her husband and two children in 1919 to emigrate to Kenya with a practically penniless man.

There, we meet the 'Happy Valley' set (made famous by 'White Mischief') in all their rampant games and adulterous, ephemeral entanglements.

Idina's life seems a frenetic search for pleasure within the context of the super-wealthy and titled. Her promiscuity, glamour and sexual conquests were legendary, but Osborne reveals the heartache under the brittle veneer of uncaring sophistication.

Does it end happily? Could it?