Dear Screen-L:
The University of California Press is pleased to announce the publication of:
Bombay Anna: The Real Story and Remarkable Adventures of the "King
and I Governess"
Susan Morgan, Distinguished Professor of English at Miami University,
is the author of Place Matters: Gendered Geography in Victorian
Women's Travel Writings about Southeast Asia, among other books.
http://go.ucpress.edu/Morgan
If you thought you knew the story of Anna in "The King and I", think
again. As this riveting biography shows, the real life of Anna
Leonowens was far more fascinating than the beloved story of the
Victorian governess who went to work for the King of Siam. To write
this definitive account, Susan Morgan traveled around the globe and
discovered new information that has eluded researchers for years.
Anna was born a poor, mixed-race army brat in India, and what
followed is an extraordinary nineteenth-century story of savvy
self-invention, wild adventure, and far-reaching influence. At a time
when most women stayed at home, Anna Leonowens traveled all over the
world, witnessed some of the most fascinating events of the Age of
Empire, and became a well-known travel writer, journalist, teacher,
and lecturer. She remains the one and only foreigner to have spent
significant time inside the royal harem of Siam. She emigrated to the
United States, crossed all of Russia on her own just before the
revolution, and moved to Canada, where she publicly defended the
rights of women and the working class. The book also gives an
engrossing account of how and why Anna became an icon of American
culture in "The King and I" and its many adaptations.
Full information about the bookis available online:
http://go.ucpress.edu/Morgan
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