Anna Leonowens: A Life Beyond "the King and I"

I would have expected such a book to be very dry, but much to my pleasant surprise it was interesting. Ms. Dow did a good job looking through Anna's sensationalized accounts of her life to find the real truth. I liked the enclosed photos of Anna and her family, and Prince Chulalongkorn. A very good biography this was.

As a young child I was enthralled with the popular musical, The King and I. The story had all the makings of a perfect fairy tale, with Anna captivating the heart of the King of Siam. Now, with a new film version of The King and I about to be released I wanted to find out more about the real woman behind the well known legend.Through extensive research and detective work, author Leslie Smith Dow has successfully peeled back the layers of myth to reveal a very different, but equally extraordinary Anna. Through her research she debunks some of the details of Anna's early life revealing a very unromantic childhood of poverty and squalor. This book took me right into the heart of this extraordinary woman as she struggled to survive as a young widow with two small children. Her life as a Governess at the Saimese Court was fascinating, but equally impressive was the life she led after leaving Siam. I was very interested to read of her many accomplishments in Canada after moving to Halifax Nova Scotia with her daughter and son-in-law. She worked very hard to make her mark on both Halifax and Montreal leaving a lasting legacy of work that remains to this day. Leslie Smith Dow has done a remarkable job of giving us a true portrait of Anna Leonowens and I highly recommend this book.