Leonora Burton is one of those figures in a small town who everyone knows. And now even more may get to know here through her latest book – Lament of an Expat, How I discovered America and Tried to Mend It. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne sat with Burton at her store – The Country Goose - in Cold Spring, New York to talk about Burton's latest endeavor.
Leonora Burton was born and raised in South Wales. When she first arrived in the United States in the late 1960s, she had already secured a job with American International Television, yet before settling into the position, had an opportunity to earn a few extra dollars, an opportunity that presented itself at the door of her Manhattan apartment.
Burton smiled when she earned another $25 working a second Nixon rally at Madison Square Garden. And while she enjoyed the $50, Burton is far from a Nixon girl politically.
Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network served as media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. He and his wife Elizabeth Ailes live in Garrison, and she is the owner and publisher of Cold Spring-based newspaper The Putnam County News and Recorder. Burton says she and the Aileses are not exactly friends, or even friendly, after, she laments, local, divisive politics.
A few years after first arriving in the States, Burton became assistant to film and television producer Fred Weintraub, who was director of creative services for Warner Brothers at the time. Another of Burton’s stories in her book portrays just how small the world can feel.
As for what drove Burton to write her memoir.
There are so many well-known names around which Burton has stories. She did not want to tip her hand too much, but did indulge me in a story about how she may be related to the Barrymores.
Then there’s a story connected with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Burton wrote 12 Regency romances in the 1970s, which are now being made into e-books, and she is working on a children’s book starring her aged black lab Tara, who is as well known in the neighborhood as Burton.
Her new book is entitled:
And that is the author, Leonora Burton. The book is published by authorhouse.