Reviews

• Swinging 60s in London through the lens of Irish Aristocracy meets Rock Stars-thanks to Tara Browne

  A well written and fascinating story of an extraordinary man - Tara Browne - Child philosopher, purveyor of fashion, wild and free spirited connector of aristocracy to music fame, in particular The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

• What a fabulous story!

  I had not heard of Tara Browne but he was a such an important part of the early 60's. Great read,

• Great read

  Great book. Plunges you completely into that world, the swinging sixties, the remaining English dynasty in Ireland, quite the story...

• Fascinating read.

  Still reading this and thoroughly engrossed. A snapshot of a time in this country's history which I doubt will ever be repeated in quite the same way. Vividly described and well paced, this is a book well worth the money. Especially poignant for children of the 1960s and essential reading for anyone interested in the popular culture of the period. It was, for the "In crowd", dazzling, hedonistic and all too brief. Well researched and efficiently described, it grabs your attention and doesn't let go.

• I couldn't put this book down

  This book was a very compelling account of the life of Tara Browne. At least in America in the 1960s his name didn't ring many bells. The accounts about him at that time simply stated that he was a Guiness heir, and had some connection to the aristocracy. I found this book in a round-about way after reading that a portrait of his brother by British artist Lucian Freud was auctioned off this month for 6.7 million euros. It also turns out that Freud was married to one of his cousins, and painted the portrait of Tara's older brother Garech while staying at the family house featured prominently in the book in the 1950s. The family as a whole seemed like that character in Woody Allen's movie, 'Zelig". Not only Tara, but the mother, as well as his brother seemed to always be in the middle of many of the cultural happenings of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. As someone in the book said, the people of the Swinging Sixties democratized the behavior that was always typical of the British and Irish aristocrats. To me there is a bit of a sad undertone in the account of all the affairs, drinking, and drug taking, both by the mother and her friends and lovers, and later by Tara and all of his friends in Swinging London. That said, the book is also a portrait of an era, and it's interesting to read about people like Brian Jones and Paul McCartney. It portrays them as real people rather than rock stars, and describes the dynamic between Jones and the rest of the Rolling Stones and their circle in an interesting way. Since reading this book, I've read Paul McCartney's account of writing "A Day in the Life" and he stated that it is not about Tara Browne. I don't find that believable as the whole first stanza seems to describe him and the circumstances of his death pretty close to the account in the book. It could be that he thought the song was hurtful to the Browne family who he knew personally. Finally, doing a little research on the web I found a news article that said that the family home in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland is for sale for 24 million pounds and that the proceeds will go to Tara's eldest son, Dorian who was named after the character in the novel, "A Portrait of Dorian Grey" by Oscar Wilde. I also discovered a video on You Tube that features the author, Paul Howard being interviewed about the book.

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