The Glitter and the Gold: The American Duchess---In Her Own Words Audiobook

" More glitter than gold, Consuelo leaves out most intimate details and instead fills her book with events and dinners with the glitterati including the Czar and Czarina of Russia, Queen Victoria, King George, the Prince of Wales and many others. Although these tales of dinners and balls can be interesting, they end up more of a list of social events than a look into Consuelo's life. The story becomes more heartfel when she talks about her marriage to Jacques Balsan and her happy life in France. Most exciting is her tale of their escape from Nazi occupied Paris to Spain and on to Lisbon and America. "

" I read this for more background history on "Downton Abbey." Consuelo Vanderbilt chronicles her forced marriage to Charles Spenser-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1895, an exchange of royal title for American money. They renovated his home, Blenheim Castle. Her perspective and writing style is couched in the times, so it starts reading like a presidential diary after about 200 pages. She lived 87 years, this book was published 10 years before her death. "

" The bits relevant to my interests - the debutante froofery, marrying the Duke of Marlborough, etc. - were so descriptive, engaging and well-written. Once the Marlborough divorce happens and Consuelo moves on to suffrage and charity work my interest waned quite a bit, but the last half of the book was just as well done as the first. This lady led an amazing life, and what she accomplished was miraculous considering the time in which she lived. Anyone interested in this period of history due to Downton Abbey's influence should look for this one. "

" Useful as social history, terrible as autobiography -- especially if, like me, you're looking for the gossip and personal revelation (homegirl was forced into marriage with British duke but eventually sought divorce and remarried, all of this before World War I - nice, right?) that the author's impeccable manners make impossible. I wanted a soft-centered chocolate, but this book is a hard candy. "

" The first several chapters were the most interesting for me - the author's life as Duchess of Marlborough was far more compelling than her later life as a private citizen. "

" Best part- when she and second husband are living in France and they escape the Nazis! "

" Amateurishly written and in need of an editor. Still, it gives an interesting look into a foreign era. "

" A fascinating memoir that should make interesting reading for anyone interested in the time period. "

" This book was extremely dry. Very proper, and all over the place. Really didn't care for it. "

" A very engaging memoir of an American-born duchess which does a great job of evoking the long-gone late-Victorian, early-Edwardian age. Kind of hard to believe folks lived like this, heartbreaking to read of a woman trapped by an ill-advised marriage. "

" Fascinating period and anecdotes but truly terribly wriiten, all at one pace, no self-awareness or irony. I slogged through it, wishing she'd employed a ghost-writer... "

" Ah, I see this is being reissued. Lovely descriptions of Gilded Age and Edwardian society, but read Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age for a fuller and more truthful portrait of Consuelo's life. "

" Consuelo Vanderbilt's story is basically an Edith Wharton novel come to life. Really fascinating what she lived through but I wish she had been more candid with her memoirs. Still worth a read especially the first half where she discusses what it was like living in the 1890s. "