ROBERTA LATOW

Everything about Roberta Latow was larger and more exotic than life. She was born in Westchester, New York but escaped her suburban background for Manhattan, where she was at the heart of the dynamic ‘pop art’ scene in the 1960s. She was a noted art expert and gallery owner and has been credited with giving Andy Warhol the original idea to paint Campbell’s soup cans.

In the early 1970s she went to Europe and moved around different exotic parts of the Mediterranean, which form the background for many of her novels. She particularly adored Greece and lived there for many years, earning her living as an art dealer and interior decorator. Later she moved to London and in the early 80s wrote Three Rivers, the first of her 21 novels. It caused a storm and became an international best-seller.

Roberta was famous for her generosity and the wild parties in her Mayfair apartment. The carpets were of fur, indoor trees reached to the high ceilings, from which canaries sang in cages and Roberta herself looked magnificent in extraordinary jewelery and eastern garments. She eventually settled in the English countryside, where she created another magical home, wrote her novels and was much loved by her neighbours. Roberta lives on in our memories through her exquisite writing, immense talent in the arts, and her loving spirit.