disappointing with a lifeless narration

The story is lost in copious amounts of unnecessary facts that are incorporated into an already boring narrative. The narrator unfortunately reads like he is a professor reading from a PHD thesis, the story is therefore hard to follow and lost in monotone dialogue and distracting inconsequential facts that detract rather than enhance what could be an interesting and eventful story. Thoroughly disappointed couldn't even get to the end of this audio book

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Awful narration

The story overall was interesting and I really wanted to listen to the end however the narration was dreadful. The author Hugo Vickers read the book himself and I found it hard going. Very flat and expressionless which spoilt the whole experience of listening.

1 person found this helpful

enjoyable

Very enjoyable and interesting piece of history. audio version pleasant to listen to as read by the author.

Interesting

Could have done with more being made of the fortune teller to bind it all together. Generally a very interesting biography of an eccentric “British” duchess and made me think of what could have been and how getting what you want doesn’t always make you happy. She was a character that made me think of others who have since left this world and made it all the more boring for doing so.

Fascinating story very well read

I found this story fascinating and the performance by the author who read it was excellent .

The Sphinx

This is without a doubt the best Audible book to which I have so far listened. I knew only of her fabulous beauty, the marriage to the Duke of Marlborough, and her disastrous decision to have wax injected into her face to correct a perceived blemish. Of her upbringing, family, and the spell she cast over a generation of European nobility, artists, and writers, I knew nothing. Hugo Vickers has done a huge service to the reading public to bring this bewitching subject to life, and furthermore reads his book aloud quite excellently.

Pretty extraordinary story.

About an exceptionally capable, forgiving and privileged yet abused person. A true survivor who lived to triumph over her life. A sort of unusual role model for people stuck in very strange relationships with someone they love.

Revealing portrait of an interesting and misunderstood woman.

From a previous review, I started this book fully expecting to dislike the main protagonist - how wrong I was! Hugo Vickers takes us on a fascinating journey into the lives of those in the upper echelons of society from the late Victorian era to the mid twentieth century. The focus of our attention is Gladys Deacon, born to wealthy US parents leading a life of luxurious leisure in Europe. The marriage of the parents implodes in infidelity and murder... and that's just the beginning of Gladys' story. The portrait, lovingly painted by the author, is that of a prodigiously intelligent woman and a born survivor, who struggles to fit in and conform to society's expectations of her. Today she would perhaps be diagnosed with high functioning Autistic Spectrum Condition - unheard of at the time, it presents differently in girls. I thoroughly enjoyed the story of this remarkable woman, made even better by the fact it is narrated by Hugo Vicars. It gives it a very authentic feeling.

All that glitters is not gold

American Gladys (pronounced the American way Glay-diss) Deacon was the bright star of the social scene of the Belle Epoque & beyond. Her childhood was chaotic and troubled, her father having shot and killed her mother's long-term lover (his wealth and social standing enabling him to escape prison), and being batted across continents along with her sisters in acrimonious custody battles. Gladys was prodigiously clever & intellectual and a linguist and was able to dazzle more brightly than any man in conversation. Her apparently astounding luminous beauty coupled with charm cast devastating spells over helpless men who worshipped her & wrote copious letters conveying the depths of their lovesick insanity.She gave herself to none of them, thereby fanning the flames of their absurd passions. It was a life of unimaginable wealth & hedonism played out in luxury hotels in Paris or Nice in which Gladys indulged her love of art and books (by the end of her life her collection of paintings and sculptures was in today's money priceless). Her beauty was as striking as her quarrels & her spite. She never thought of anyone but herself and severed all ties with her mother, her sisters and many offending 'friends' along the way. She ruined her looks in vain pursuit of further perfection by having wax injected into the bridge of her nose which melted and slid around her face. She committed not a single act of kindness or usefulness as she moved through a society of remarkable emptiness. Gladys's mother rattled around a 200-room Italian villa whilst the pass-time of another wealthy lady epitomised the aching vacuum at the heart of this society: she had trained one of her pet frogs to jump into her mouth on command. At the age of 14 Gladys had set her heart on becoming a Duchess by marrying the married Duke of Marlborough, a feat she finally achieved at the age of 40 in 1921. It was of course a disaster for them both. She hated Blenheim with its gardens full of snakes; she had 4 miscarriages (possibly intentional), and had nothing to say to the sporty hunting Duke who was so very far below her intellectually. It took him 13 years to evict her. Her final years as a wildly eccentric & aggressive, toothless old woman in wellies surrounded by hordes of dogs is grotesque. Finally incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital (where author Hugo Vickers visited her for 2 years as a young man), she lived to be 96, outrageously difficult & cantankerous, always fervently wanting to live but with nothing to live for. The book is all very rivetting and scrupulously researched (if a tad too detailed at times) and it is nicely read by Hugo Vickers himself. I think during all the year of his research (his 1st book on Gladys was published in 1979), he has fallen under her spell. Yes she was a glittering being, but ultimately with all that wealth, brains and beauty her 96 years brought no real happiness to anyone, least of all herself. Her whole story is not a glittering biography but a classical tragedy. A good story, nevertheless!

An indepth account

Hugo Vickers writes well and gives us a comprehensive and detailed account of the Duchesses' life. The strange pronunciation of her name 'Glay-dis' as opposed to the usual 'Glad-is' is irksome. In her youth she may have been a beauty but this book recounts a wasted, selfish life peppered with episodes of mental ill health. The main characters all appear to exhibit abnormal behaviour of one form or another. A sad slow decline which required her removal to psychiatric hospital concludes her long life. Hugo does a brilliant job of the narration.