The Great Dictator

Writer and broadcaster Matthew Sweet joins The Times Literary Editor Robbie Millen for a richly entertaining conversation about the queen of romantic fiction, Barbara Cartland.

Behind the pink chiffon, pearls and prolific romantic fantasies, she lived a life as extravagant, contradictory and as revealing as any of her heroines.

The Great Dictator draws on her extraordinary archive to uncover the ambition, insecurity and steel behind one of the twentieth century’s most parodied and recognisable literary figures.

This vivid new portrait reveals a life of Country-house dramas, séances, plagiarism rows and an unlikely campaign for Romany rights.

There will be a book signing after this event.