{"product_id":"faking-it-from-bookie-s-son-to-baron-the-incredible-life-of-brian-leese-9781914913914","title":"Faking It: from bookie’s son to baron: the","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe changed his name many times, deceived everyone he met, distanced himself from his parents and reinvented himself as an Irish baron. This is ‘Faking It’, the astonishing true story of author Mandy Moore’s relative Brian Leese. Brian began as an ordinary schoolboy from London, became a Mormon in Salt Lake City, married an Indian princess in Ischia, Italy, had bisexual affairs and partied in Rome with European royalty and famous writers. After divorcing, he married a Finnish heiress, living a life of luxury in an Irish mansion, all the while lying about his education, upbringing and parentage, and portraying himself as an Irish baron. He wrote books on Irish genealogy, architecture and history but his life was funded by horseracing crime, Nazis in the Bahamas, and American mobsters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePicture and documents credits \t11 Preface\t15 1. Two lucky escapes – out of Amsterdam and the East End\t17 East End squalor \t18 Follow the money - A move to Twickenham \t19 The dangerous world of bookmaking \t20 2. The Leese family in the thirties\t23 3. The war years\t25 Means, motive, opportunity\t26 Going to America\t27 4. A new life in Salt Lake City\t29 Moses and Marguerite with the Mormons\t30 Brian breaks away\t31 5. The O’Rourke barony and viscountcy of Breffny\t33 What are the chances?\t33 A brief history of the O’Rourkes\t34 6. The celebrity playground of Ischia\t37 7. A secret marriage to an Indian princess\t41 8. The glamour of life in Rome\t45 Deception and falsehood\t47 A dalliance with Muriel Spark\t48 9. A Finnish heiress, the Nazis and the Mafia\t51 The scandal of Sir Stafford Lofthouse Sands and his millions\t51 The Nazi connection\t53 The Mafia take control\t54 How much did Ulli know?\t56 Brian meets Ulli – and her fortune\t57 10. A lavish life in a Palladian mansion\t59 Castletown Cox reborn\t60 11. Sita-Maria and a royal connection\t63 Goodbye to Abbeyleix\t64 12. A charmed life of literature and the arts\t67 13. A tangled web\t71 The family left behind in London\t73 14. Written in stone\t77 15. Why did he do it?\t79 References\t81","brand":"The Conrad Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48742790136151,"sku":"9781914913914","price":18.04,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/faking-it-from-bookie-s-son-to-baron-the-incredible-life-of-brian-leese-9781914913914","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}