The Bolter - Idina Sackville - the 1920 s style icon and seductress said to have inspired Taylor Swift s The Bolter

Idina Sackville - the 1920''s style icon and seductress who ''Taylor Swift fans think "The Bolter" could be inspired by'' Bustle

In 1934 Idina Sackville met the son she had last seen fifteen years earlier when she shocked high society by running off to Africa with a near-penniless man, abandoning him, his brother and their father. So scandalous was Idina''s life - she was said to have had ''lovers without number'' - that it was kept a secret from her great-granddaughter, Frances Osborne. Now Osborne explores her moving tale of betrayal and heartbreak.

''A corker of a subject... probably inspired The Bolter in Nancy Mitford''s The Pursuit of Love... A breakneck-paced, thoroughly diverting story'' THE TIMES

''A tragic and deeply moving tale... far more gripping than any novel I have read for years'' ANTONY BEEVOR

''Frances Osborne has brilliantly captured not only one woman''s life but an entire lost society'' AMANDA FOREMAN

''An enthralling account of a dazzling, troubled life'' JULIAN FELLOWES