Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon - Memoir (2007)

Memoir (2007)

Glimpses of Lady Avon's life as a single woman, for example, in diaries and other reminiscences, are quite extensive. Although she had indicated to former Labour Member of Parliament Woodrow, Lord Wyatt that no memoir of her own would appear until after her death, a volume, edited by Cate Haste (Lady Bragg), was published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson in 2007. Phoenix published a paperback edition in 2008. Haste had previously collaborated with Cherie Booth, wife of the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, to produce a biographical chapter about Lady Avon in 2004 as part of a wider study of Prime Ministerial spouses. Lady Avon noted that, after meeting Haste, she realised that the latter's "enthusiasm and professionalism could make it happen".

A photograph on the dust jacket of the memoir, depicting a young, pensive Lady Avon, cigarette in hand, conveyed an alluring and slightly Bohemian image. The book was generally well received by critics and even generated an engaging "spoof" in the satirical magazine Private Eye ("In the early 1950s I married Anthony Eden, a politician of above average height, with a prominent moustache ..."). Historian Andrew Roberts described it as "the last great British autobiography of the pre-war and wartime era", while art critic John McEwen remarked on its "witty and elegant restraint".