Anne Sebba – författare

Bestselling biography of the enduringly fascinating Wallis SimpsonOne of Britain''s most distinguished biographers turns her focus on one of the most vilified women of the twentieth century. Historian Anne Sebba has written the first full biography by a woman of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. ''That woman'', as she was referred to by the Queen Mother, became a hate figure for ensnaring a British king and destabilising the monarchy. Neither beautiful nor brilliant, she nevertheless became one of the most talked-about women of her generation, and she inspired such deep love and adoration in Edward VIII that he gave up a throne and an empire for her. Wallis lived by her wit and her wits, while both her apparent and alleged moral transgressions added to her aura and dazzle. Based on new archives and material only recently made available, this scrupulously researched biography sheds new light on the character and motivations of a powerful, charismatic and complex woman.

WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2016June, 1940. German troops enter Paris and hoist the swastika over the Arc de Triomphe. The dark days of Occupation begin. How would you have survived? By collaborating with the Nazis, or risking the lives of you and your loved ones to resist? The women of Paris faced this dilemma every day - whether choosing between rations and the black market, or travelling on the Metro, where a German soldier had priority for a seat. Between the extremes of defiance and collusion was a vast moral grey area which all Parisiennes had to navigate in order to survive.Anne Sebba has sought out and interviewed scores of women, and brings us their unforgettable testimonies. Her fascinating cast includes both native Parisiennes and temporary residents: American women and Nazi wives; spies, mothers, mistresses, artists, fashion designers and aristocrats. The result is an enthralling account of life during the Second World War and in the years of recovery and recrimination that followed the Liberation of Paris in 1944. It is a story of fear, deprivation and secrets - and, as ever in the French capital, glamour and determination.

''A heart-piercingly brilliant book about a woman whose personal life put her in the cross-hairs of history'' HADLEY FREEMAN''Totally riveting. I couldn''t put it down'' VICTORIA HISLOP''Ethel sings out for all women who have been misunderstood and wronged, and refuse to bow down'' NICHOLAS SHAKESPEARE''A shocking tale of betrayal, naivety, misogyny and judicial failure'' SONIA PURNELL''A historic miscarriage of justice laid bare for our times'' PHILIPPE SANDSEthel Rosenberg was a supportive wife, loving mother to two small children and courageous idealist who grew up during the Depression with aspirations to become an opera singer.On 19 June 1953 she became the first woman in the US to be executed for a crime other than murder. She was thirty-seven years old.Ethel''s conviction for conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union followed what FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called the ''trial of the century'' in Cold War America and is still controversial. Now, Anne Sebba''s masterly, meticulously researched and deeply moving biography finally tells Ethel''s true story - a life barbarically cut short on the basis of tainted evidence for a crime she almost certainly did not commit.

New York Times bestselling author Anne Sebba''s moving biography of Ethel Rosenberg, the wife and mother whose execution for espionage-related crimes defined the Cold War and horrified the world.In June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a couple with two young sons, were led separately from their prison cells on Death Row and electrocuted moments apart. Both had been convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union, despite the fact that the US government was aware that the evidence against Ethel was shaky at best and based on the perjury of her own brother.This book is the first to focus on one half of that couple for more than thirty years, and much new evidence has surfaced since then. Ethel was a bright girl who might have fulfilled her personal dream of becoming an opera singer, but instead found herself struggling with the social mores of the 1950’s. She longed to be a good wife and perfect mother, while battling the political paranoia of the McCarthy era, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and a mother who never valued her. Because of her profound love for and loyalty to her husband, she refused to incriminate him, despite government pressure on her to do so. Instead, she courageously faced the death penalty for a crime she hadn’t committed, orphaning her children.Seventy years after her trial, this is the first time Ethel’s story has been told with the full use of the dramatic and tragic prison letters she exchanged with her husband, her lawyer and her psychotherapist over a three-year period, two of them in solitary confinement. Hers is the resonant story of what happens when a government motivated by fear tramples on the rights of its citizens.A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin''s Press"Sebba vividly contrasts Ethel, who always put others first and whose poise during her nightmarish trial was used against her, with her devious accusers and rabid prosecutors. Ultimately, Sebba places the martyrdom of Ethel Rosenberg, a “profoundly moral woman,” on the long scroll of anti-Semitic and sexist atrocities, creating a redefining and redemptive work of astute protest and caution." -- Booklist, starred review

''Superb and timely'' KATE MOSSE''Impressive, important, deeply moving'' SARAH WATERS''Brilliant'' ANTHONY HOROWITZWhat role could music play in a death camp? What was the effect on those women who owed their survival to their participation in a Nazi propaganda project? And how did it feel to be forced to provide solace to the perpetrators of a genocide that claimed the lives of their family and friends? In 1943, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra should be formed among the female prisoners. Almost fifty women and girls from eleven nations were assembled to play marching music to other inmates - forced labourers who left each morning and returned, exhausted and often broken, at the end of the day - and give weekly concerts for Nazi officers. Individual members were sometimes summoned to give solo performances of an officer''s favourite piece of music. It was the only entirely female orchestra in any of the Nazi prison camps and, for almost all of the musicians chosen to take part, being in the orchestra was to save their lives. In The Women''s Orchestra of Auschwitz, award-winning historian Anne Sebba tells their astonishing story with sensitivity and care.

Jennie Churchill was said to have had two hundred lovers, three of whom she married. But her love for her son Winston never wavered. Jennie Churchill is an intimate picture of her glittering but ultimately tragic life, and the powerful mutual infatuation between her and her son. Anyone who wants to understand Winston must start here, with this revelatory interpretation. Anne Sebba has gained unprecedented access to private family correspondence, newly discovered archival material and interviews with Jennie''s two surviving granddaughters. She draws a vivid and frank portrait of her subject, repositioning Jennie as a woman who refused to be cowed by her era''s customary repression of women.