Matthew Sweet talks to Cathy Rentzenbrink

Bring some violet creams and gently recline while Matthew Sweet draws a wickedly funny and perfectly outrageous portrait of the queen of romance. The life of socialite and novelist Barbara Cartland makes for a wonderfully entertaining story, from her eventful youth through two world wars and 49 proposals, to her 723 books selling in the millions worldwide.

Uncovering the woman behind the powder and mascara, we see a clever, socially precarious writer navigating a twentieth-century world of war-damaged men, class conflict and sexual peril. Matthew, presenter of Free Thinking on BBC Radio 4, talks to author and memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink about how the literary legend was made.