Di and I - Hardcover

From the author of The Dreyfus Affair comes this uproariously funny love story about Princess Di's affair with an American commoner that provides a "fast, funny trip through the looking glass into an oddly engaging mix of royal family scandals and Hollywood derring-do."--Los Angeles Daily News

Screenwriter and novelist Lefcourt (The Dreyfus Affair, 1992, etc.) returns with a bizarre comedy in which the Princess of Wales and a Hollywood screenwriter fall in love and open a McDonald's restaurant in California. Leonard Schecter, in the midst of an expensive divorce from his wife (The Petitioner), goes to London to research a TV miniseries about Diana, one that will ``deliver the inside of her soul.'' Tabloid reporter Rupert Makepeace gets Schecter invited to a reception at the Togolese Embassy, and the brash American asks Di to dance. The sad princess, who only wants someone to curl up with in front of the telly, takes a shine to Schecter, who claims to be writing an epic poem about her. Danielle Steele-reading Diana is won over by bad poetry and invites Schecter to the Royal Enclosure at Ascot and to a weekend at Balmoral with the Queen. The couple eludes the press long enough to fall in love and steal away for romantic afternoons at the Togolese Embassy. Schecter parlays this relationship into a million dollars in book and movie advances. Armed with phony Togolese passports, he and Diana (with Harry and Wills) sneak away from an island vacation with Juan Carlos and Sophia of Spain. The next day, sporting American crew cuts, the boys stand in line with everyone else at Disneyland. The little family settles down in Rancho Cucamonga with a tract house and a fast-food franchise. Di lets her hair revert to its natural mousy brown, gets a nose job, and joins a bowling league. The boys learn American English and work at McDonald's after school. But rest assured, the future king and his brother will eventually return to their dad and their destiny. A fun romp, but the humor is sometimes forced, and the book is ultimately more silly than entertaining. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.