The Glitter and the Gold

The American Duchess - In Her Own Words

De: Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan

Narrado por: Coleen Marlo

Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful and the heir to a vast family fortune. She was also deeply in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to fulfill her social ambitions and marry an English Duke. Leaving her life in America, she came to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home: Blenheim Palace.

The ninth Duchess gives unique first-hand insight into life at the very pinnacle of English society in the Edwardian era. An unsnobbish, but often amused observer of the intricate hierarchy both upstairs and downstairs at Blenheim Palace, she is also a revealing witness to the glittering balls, huge weekend parties, and major state occasions she attended or hosted. Here are her encounters with every important figure of the day - from Queen Victoria, Edward VII, and Queen Alexandra to Tsar Nicholas, Prince Metternich, and the young Winston Churchill.

This intimate, richly enjoyable memoir is a wonderfully revealing portrait of a golden age.

©1953 Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan (P)2012 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A woman of poise, beauty, and charm looks back on her life at the very center of the most opulent and aristocratic society of three countries, the United States, Britain, and France... and emerges... a woman of courage, public spirit, refinement, and surprisingly democratic convictions." ( The New York Times)

Speed reading

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The book was interesting. It was a "surface" autobiography, There was not much depth to it. It was more along the lines of a fluff magazine story. The narrator spoke so quickly in so very many places I repeatedly had to replay sections of the story to try to figure out what she was saying. I would like to have known more about her life after she returned to the United States.

What didn’t you like about Coleen Marlo’s performance?

She read as though she was going to run out of time to get the whole story read.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes

loved listening to this book.

This is a great book I love biographies. you must listen to Fortunes Children first, so you can learn about her family as she was growing up.

A pleasant surpeise

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Consuelo’s life from her voice. The stories of all the people she knew were a walk through history.

Fascinating story, poorly narrated

The story is terrific for the view into British and American society of the period. Narration, however, is both pretentious in tone, and riddled with weird mispronunciations of English and foreign words.

love the personal touch to history.

Enjoyed seeing history from a personal perspective. and how life a politics change over one lifetime.

Just couldn’t listen

The narrator is not good. I found it difficult to even get past the first chapter. In fact I did not.

Nice story, haughty-sounding narrator

Consuelo was a gem. Coleen, not so much. Insights on the Victorian/Edwardian eras as well as the 2 world wars from a wealthy philanthropic woman's perspective.

More Poor Little Rich Girl Than Expected

For a heretofore unknown reason, I expected Consuelo Vanderbilt to be more relatable than I found her to be in this autobiography. Or, perhaps, more candid. Had I entered into listening with more realistic expectations, I surely would have enjoyed it more. While I recommend listening for anyone interested in the Gilded Age, in general, and American Dollar Princesses, in particular, I advise you to manage expectations to enhance the experience.

I expected to learn more about Vanderbilt’s unique childhood. I did not expect to learn so much about how an American expatriate was treated by the British and quite enjoyed insight into English politics. It’s likely that anyone in 2022 knows that Vanderbilt’s marriage to the Duke of Marlborough was not a happy one, but it seemed a bit emotionally raw for being published 30 years after the divorce. Arguably, a skosh disrespectful owing to the children the marriage produced. Most of those sections made me question how heavy a hand a ghost writer may have had in pandering to that drama for readers.

“Discussing the demands of hostessing, while entirely justified and surely taxing, were entirely unrelatable,” this reviewer notes and then slurps the remnants of her last Cup Noodles alone in a stucco condominium built circa 1974 within a concrete jungle on a Friday night. Although I appreciate everything is relative, Vanderbilt so belabored the stresses attendant to hosting that “poor little rich girl” came to mind several times. Would I rather be alone than in a loveless marriage? Yes. Could I manage it for a platform to effect meaningful change from Blenheim Palace? Also yes.

My response to Vanderbilt’s “woe is me, dark is the night” vibe entwined with the narrator’s affected pronunciation of Marlborough. The combination nearly led me to stop listening, but I always finish what I start and powered through.

Thank goodness I did because just before the book abruptly ends, Vanderbilt explains that she nearly turned down a dinner invitation owing to not having the proper evening clothes. I had to check to see if I skipped a chapter as I thought Vanderbilt and her second husband were fleeing Nazi-invaded France for the Iberian Peninsula. No chapter skipped. It was a concern articulated as a refugee in the middle of her journey.

It was then that I contemplated the differences between listening to a book versus reading a book. Did I miss Vanderbilt’s humor throughout? Was the statement self-mockery, an acknowledgment of a disordered mind or was she entirely serious? I shall never know.

interesting history

great narration. interesting history lesson. beautiful storytelling. pleasure reading. do indulge yourself in a bit of storytelling.

The reader- ugh

Consuelo seems a lovely woman with a great story, but the reader, while good at reading in foreign languages, mispronounced several things in English and read in a breathless, affected way that made Consuelo’s story seem insincere.