SELECTED reviews
"Cynthia Helms's memoir is an absorbing, wise and often captivating look at the many worlds experienced by this extraordinary woman, including wartime England, Washington, D.C., at the zenith of its glamor and influence, and Iran just before the deluge, offering unique glimpses of life at the top with LBJ, Nixon and the Shah. Perhaps most of all, she brings us a poignant and revelatory portrait of her soulmate, Richard Helms, one of the most important Americans of the twentieth century, whose legendary self-effacement and discretion have obscured vital aspects of his life and personality before now."
--Michael Beschloss
Cynthia Helms is a bright, savvy, tenacious and spirited woman who mingled with some of the headliners of the 20th and 21st centuries. She not only witnessed changes in the lives of girls and women, she lived them. And along the way, her insights into the powerful and her willingness to puncture the pompous make this must reading for students of history and human nature who want to know what it really was like in those Georgetown salons.
--Alan K. Simpson, U.S. Senator, Wyo. (Retired)
This is the untold version of the ‘Greatest Generation’ story—the women’s side—as recounted by one of the giants. Cynthia Helms fought in World War II as a British Wren and lived under the Nazi bombs—but her real passage was into the modern and independent life of American woman. She tells the story with honesty and humor—of marriage and divorce, and of the great romance that led to her second marriage with Richard Helms, the greatest spymaster America ever produced. The tale moves from Cynthia’s girlhood on a farm in Essex, through her near-expulsion from boarding school for using the unspeakable word “bugger,” through her education as a lady (note, for example, her account of the proper way to eat asparagus) to a wartime nuptial that proved to be loveless—all on the road to meeting Helms and discovering what she calls “the companionship of marriage.” This book is charming, passionate and laced with the inside secrets that will make it a must-read for Washington insiders. Who else but Cynthia Helms could go to a party at the British Embassy and end up sitting next to the Beatles’ Paul McCartney?
--David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post
For The Washington Times' review of 'An Intriguing Life,' click here.
--Michael Beschloss
Cynthia Helms is a bright, savvy, tenacious and spirited woman who mingled with some of the headliners of the 20th and 21st centuries. She not only witnessed changes in the lives of girls and women, she lived them. And along the way, her insights into the powerful and her willingness to puncture the pompous make this must reading for students of history and human nature who want to know what it really was like in those Georgetown salons.
--Alan K. Simpson, U.S. Senator, Wyo. (Retired)
This is the untold version of the ‘Greatest Generation’ story—the women’s side—as recounted by one of the giants. Cynthia Helms fought in World War II as a British Wren and lived under the Nazi bombs—but her real passage was into the modern and independent life of American woman. She tells the story with honesty and humor—of marriage and divorce, and of the great romance that led to her second marriage with Richard Helms, the greatest spymaster America ever produced. The tale moves from Cynthia’s girlhood on a farm in Essex, through her near-expulsion from boarding school for using the unspeakable word “bugger,” through her education as a lady (note, for example, her account of the proper way to eat asparagus) to a wartime nuptial that proved to be loveless—all on the road to meeting Helms and discovering what she calls “the companionship of marriage.” This book is charming, passionate and laced with the inside secrets that will make it a must-read for Washington insiders. Who else but Cynthia Helms could go to a party at the British Embassy and end up sitting next to the Beatles’ Paul McCartney?
--David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post
For The Washington Times' review of 'An Intriguing Life,' click here.
