This is a fascinating true story of an English school teacher, who moves to Siam with her young son in the 1800s. It relates her story of trying to create a new life in a culture that is so different from her own and of her unlikely friendship with the Siamese king. I love this story and the book is so rich with it's descriptions.
The book on which is based the play and movie The King and I.
This is the book behind Rogers and Hammersteins The King and I. As in Kris Kristoffersons The Pilgrim: Chapter 33, it is partly truth and partly fiction. It is a vivid depiction of mid-1860s Siam, centered around Anna Leonowens, schoolmistress to the king, his children, and his wives. More than a biographical sketch, it delves into the intrigues of the court, foreign relations, and the ever-present meddling of European powers as they struggle for control of Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the book has fallen by the wayside, although it inspired three film versions, the original musical and six revivals of the play.
This book held me spellbound. Reviewers I have read since its reading, have speculated that fact has been embroidered upon. But if so, Ms Landon has done it with a superbly artistic hand. I can easily believe what she has written; if only for the fact that fact IS often stranger than fiction. In any case, there is no one who saw what she did; so disputes are only possible from those on the border of these events. Every biographer must tell their story from their own perspective; and I have never read a better one, apart from the Bible.
A charming, true story of a proper English lady engaged by the King of Siam as a teacher for his many children and concubines. (Yes, the story of The King and I)
