Ludwig Bemelmans came to the California home of famed interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl, for cocktails. By the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as 'Mother'.With hilarity and mischief, Bemelmans lifts the curtain on a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by ravishing movie stars. To the One I Love the Best is a luminous painting of life's oddities and a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman.

'This book is a must' New York Times

This is Los Angeles in the 1930s, where the parties are fabulous, the cocktails flow, and ravishing movie stars and European royalty are on the guestlist.

Here, the last word in good taste is had by infamous interior decorator and socialite Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl, known to her closest friends simply as 'Mother'. When Ludwig Bemelmans, recently arrived in Hollywood to work as a screenwriter, first meets her, she is ninety years old, devoted to her little dog Blue Blue - and an unstoppable force.

Bemelmans is rapidly established as a member of the family, given a suite in Elsie's dazzling home and access to the crème-de-la-crème of Hollywood society. Filled to the brim with wit and style, this is a luminous portrait of a fabulously eccentric woman, and a charming, whirlwind friendship.