Inbox: Barbara Cartland, The Great Dictator | Matthew Sweet

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How did a woman lying on a sofa with a Pekingese on her lap write 723 books? Why did the queen of pink chiffon put shoe polish on her eyelashes? And, if she sold around 750 million copies, why can't you find her books in a shop today? Matthew Sweet, author of the first biography to take Barbara Cartland seriously, tells Peter Frankopan and Afua Hirsch how a Doctor Who audio play about alien bookworms led him to her private papers. A house left almost untouched since she died in 2000. A father killed in the Great War, two brothers lost at Dunkirk, and two suitors who threatened to shoot themselves if she said no. Then the paradox: a woman who told readers to put their husbands first while…