The official website of Frances Osborne, author of The Bolter, Lilla's Feast and Park Lane

Frances Osborne

Frances Osborne is the author of three books, all published in the UK and US. Her first biography, Lilla's Feast (2004), has been translated into six languages and is a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book. Her second biography, The Bolter (2008), was shortlisted for Best Read in Britain, was a Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller and one of The San Francisco Chronicle's Best Books of the Year. Her novel, Park Lane, was short listed for the Historical Crime Writers' Association/Goldsboro' Books First Novel Award. Frances judged the Booker Prize for Fiction in 2015.

The Bolter

The woman who scandalised 1920s Society and became White Mischief's infamous seductress: Idina Sackville - the 1920’s ... said to have inspired Taylor Swift’s The Bolter

On Friday 25th May, 1934, a forty-one-year-old woman walked into the lobby of Claridge's Hotel to meet the nineteen-year-old son whose face she did not know. Fifteen years earlier, as the First World War ended, Idina Sackville shocked high society by leaving his multimillionaire father to run off to Africa with a near penniless man.

Real Bolter's Great-Granddaughter Discusses Taylor Swift's Song

May 08, 2024 by Frances Osborne

Taylor Swift's discography is full of references to real people, but what happens when one of those people is your relative?

Taylor Swift, Underdog Voices, and Women’s Historical Right to ‘Bolt’

May 07, 2024 by Frances Osborne

Taylor Swift, Underdog Voices, and Women’s Historical Right to ‘Bolt’ - Ms. Magazine

Did My Great-Grandmother Idina Sackville, Inspire Taylor Swift’s New Track ‘The Bolter’?

May 07, 2024 by Frances Osborne

Did My Glamorous Great-Grandmother Inspire Taylor Swift’s New Track, "The Bolter"?

Frances Osborne

Frances Osborne

News & Updates

Real Bolter's Great-Granddaughter Discusses Taylor Swift's Song

Taylor Swift, Underdog Voices, and Women’s Historical Right to ‘Bolt’

Did My Great-Grandmother Idina Sackville, Inspire Taylor Swift’s New Track ‘The Bolter’?