That Woman
by Anne Sebba
Weidenfeld & Nicolson (e-book)

As Anne Sebba acknowledges, there is no shortage of people who want to interpret That Woman (Wallis Simpson), including Madonna. Setting the historian apart is Sebba's belief that Wallis did England a favour by marrying 'the ineffectual king' Edward VIII. During Britain's struggle against Nazi Germany, his patriotism was never tested; neither was the nation ruled. Many readers will speed past chapters about her unusual name (shortened from Bessie Wallis), her parents and her first marriage (to Lieutenant Winfield Spencer Jnr, an alcoholic, in 1916), to reach her 'lotus year' (1924) in Shanghai, where (apparently on the orders of Queen Mary) a 'China Dossier' was compiled about her activities, including how she learned sexual techniques such as the 'China clinch'. Sebba repeats allegations that Wallis could have been born a pseudohermaphrodite. She stresses what is speculation, including that Wallis captivated Edward because she could satisfy his repressed homosexuality. Sebba's biography is interesting, but you know it is not the final word on Wallis Simpson.