A whirlwind ride through the lives of heiresses

Very entertaining canter through some of the richest heiresses in history. Proving that money rarely creates happiness. Quite the opposite.

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1 person found this helpful

How not to spend your inheritance ( in the main)

Excellent narration and research by the author - fascinating stories of centuries of misspent wealth

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Fascinating piece of history!

This book is so much more than a tale of “poor little rich girls”! Instead, it delves into a centuries’ old tradition of wealthy girls being overtly traded - or in some cases abducted - because they happened to carry an inheritance. The women had no agency, either against parents bartering them for social elevation and a title, or against the seducers who courted them and whisked them away. Once married their patrimony (including children) became their husbands’ property and they, usually unloved for themselves, lived out miserable and stressful lives.
Thus, for me, this book was at its most interesting in its first part, dealing with historical cases about which one probaby previously knew nothing, and yet are important for what they say about society, class and gender. The author deftly points out how some males of “the gentry” but perhaps impoverished (in their terms) would consider wealthy girls of a lower social rank fair game for a false suit or even kidnapping. These men simply felt “entitled” to the fortunes of industrialists and manufacturers whom they considered unworthy - the landed gentry being the real inheritors of the earth’s worldly goods - and would go to any lengths to seduce or kidnap a young and unsuspecting daughter.
The scenario changes in the late 19thC when married women were legally allowed to control their own assets and income, but this is also the period when American heiresses were traded: a massive dowry in exchange for a Duchy or Earldom. Many unhappy and toxic marriages followed. Some plucky heiresses escaped this fate by forming lesbian communes in Paris. Most of the Americans, however, seem to have craved love and attention without the inner resources to forge or sustain a meaningful relationship, and just splashed their inheritance on husband after husband.
The book ends, mercifully, with the story of Angela Burnett-Coutts who inherited the esteemed Coutts Bank and much else but remained an apparently happy spinster dedicating her money to good works & causes, much of this in conjunction with Charles Dickens. Phew! The one that got away!
I’d have given 5 stars all round for this book but for the fact that its second half (C20th) becomes somewhat confusing with too many characters with similar names popping up all over the place, and the author beginning to sound a bit tired of reading. Minor faults! This is a fascinating tour through a neglected part of history, revealing SO much more, in terms of class entitlements and societal connivance, than just the plight of a few rich women!

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8 people found this helpful

Perfectly narrated, lots of new information

Tremendously well researched, brilliant writing and narration. Really engaging and lots of people I hadn’t heard of before to find out more about.

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Lightweight but detail heavy

Explores the conundrum that wealth, far from freeing women, either made them prey to unscrupulous fortune hunters or was the catalyst to hitting the self destruct button. Largely miserable lives -apart from the final person- which does appeal somewhat to schadenfreude.
However - this is a prime example of the fact that often, the writer doesn't make the best narrator. Distracting narration and odd speech impediment somewhat marred the experience.

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