Heiresses by Laura Thompson

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies

Author: Laura Thompson 

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: 2.1.22

Publisher’s Summary 

New York Times bestselling author Laura Thompson returns with Heiresses, a fascinating look at the lives of heiresses throughout history and the often tragic truth beneath the gilded surface.

Heiresses: surely they are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets and Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century a wife’s inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions.

Heiresses tells the stories of these million dollar babies: Mary Davies, who inherited London’s most valuable real estate, and was bartered from the age of twelve; Consuelo Vanderbilt, the original American “Dollar Heiress”, forced into a loveless marriage; Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth heiress who married seven times and died almost penniless; and Patty Hearst, heiress to a newspaper fortune who was arrested for terrorism. However, there are also stories of independence and achievement: Angela Burdett-Coutts, who became one of the greatest philanthropists of Victorian England; Nancy Cunard, who lived off her mother's fortune and became a pioneer of the civil rights movement; and Daisy Fellowes, elegant linchpin of interwar high society and noted fashion editor.

Heiresses is about the lives of the rich, who—as F. Scott Fitzgerald said—are ‘different’. But it is also a bigger story about how all women fought their way to equality, and sometimes even found autonomy and fulfillment.

My Review

I listened to this book while doing my housework for a few days, and all I kept thinking is, "these poor women." I thought, "maybe cleaning this toilet isn't so bad" 😆 The heiresses that author Laura Thompson discusses have access to large sums of money, but there are so many strings attached. They're married off as business transactions, lovers hustle them, they're kidnapped, they're locked away in asylums...their fortunes bring so many obstacles and problems. I had heard of a few of these heiresses before, but not all of them. For example, Mary Davies, whose marriage was agreed upon when she was 8. At the age of 12, she married her 21-year-old husband and eventually gave birth to 3 sons. After her husband's death, Mary ran off to Paris at the age of 36 and remarried. Her family was so upset that they tried to have her marriage annulled, and at the age of 40, they had her committed to an asylum. The only downside to this book is that it is EXTREMELY detailed and I am not sure if I would recommend the audio version. I think a physical copy where I could have seen the overall trajectory of each chapter and the book as a whole would have been easier to process.