No, not me. Bombay Anna: The Real Story and Remarkable Adventures of The King and I Governess by Susan Morgan is a recent biography of Anna Leonowens (1831-1915), whose employment in the Siamese court was the inspiration for Margaret Landon's 1944 bestseller Anna and the King of Siam and the 1950s musical The King and I. You may have suspected that the American version of Anna's story wasn't entirely accurate. You would be correct.Well, it turns out that Anna's version of Anna's story wasn't entirely accurate, either. Anna, then a widow with two small children, presented herself to the Siamese king as a well-born, Caucasian, English lady--just the sort of person he was looking for to provide English lessons for the women and children in his harem.
In fact, Anna grew up in India and had never been to England before arriving in Siam. Her father was a soldier in the lowest ranks of the Indian Army; her mother was a young woman of mixed-race heritage. King Mongkut, Anna's employer, was not a romantic interest, but a savvy monarch who shared Anna's love of learning, interested in educating his people and protecting his country from foreign occupation.
Although her employment in the Siamese court is the most well-known of her accomplishments, Anna spent only five years there. Moving on, she continued to reinvent herself, living in the U.S. and Canada, becoming a Sanskrit scholar, author, public lecturer, social reformer, suffragist, and journalist.
Anna Leonowens was a smart, resourceful, self-made woman. Bombay Anna is a well-researched biography that deserves a wider audience. Recommended.
