This was a truly bizarre, and sad, story of the final days of this larger-than-life woman. Maitre Blum was a woman obsessed by, and in love with, the Duchess. The amount of control M. Blum held, and the ferocity with which she held on to it are truly scary forces to see. As a follow-up to the death of the Duchess, read the essay in Dominick Dunne's collection about the disposition of her estate by the hand of M. Blum.

This book is a mystery novel, journalist's feature story and biography all in one. Telling the story through the author's attempts to uncover the truth surrounding Wallis' life after the death of the Duke keeps the suspense-level high. It grabbed my interest and held it to the end. If you are at all interested in the Windsors' story, this book completes the story of Wallis' life and gives a few more details about their lives that previous books have not.

The long coda to the life of one of the twentieth century's most famous (infamous?) figures was played out in a French villa in an atmosphere of secrecy and intrigue that was at times bizarre. This book is extremely sharply written and is a reminder that the gothic mode is not the exclusive preseve of either fiction or the nineteenth century.

I have to admit that when I first began reading this biography of Lady Caroline, it did not immediately enthrall me the way I thought it might, after having read the book's description. The first chapter or so deals almost exclusively with her family's history, and I found the endless names and descriptions of the different people boring. *However* as I began to read forward, I found myself fascinated with the sort of wit and charm Caroline Blackwood posessed (as is evident with her writings) The little excerpts from her fiction and non-fiction works scattered throughout the length of the biography were very important, as I think they fit perfectly with what Miss Schoenberger had been describing within Caroline's life. They provided a lot of insight into what was happening in her life, in an almost poetical manner. There is no doubt that the author has a strong talent for writing, but I think the fact that different members of Caroline Blackwood's family refused to contribute hurt Nancy Schoenberger's effort for a deeper story. All in all, by the end of the book, I definitely wanted more to read. The author's fluid style of writing fit the subject matter well and it wasn't repetitive or dull by any means. I was however, disappointed with one aspect of the novel, and that is why wasn't more written about the development as Lady Caroline as a writer? I've read a few of her books, and she is obviously extremely talented in the area of psychological prose...there was more emphasis put on Caroline Blackwood's relationships than what was really the most fascinating thing about her, and that was her ability to so vividly and acutely write a novel of the psychological aspect...that was her true genius, not the fact that she was beautiful and had famous husbands. Too bad that wasn't put across, and that that's what Caroline will be remembered for, instead of what she *should*. Nevertheless a great biography by Nancy Schoenberger, given what she had to work with.

This is a very romanticized viewpoint of Lady Caroline's troubled life but it was so well written and readable that it was impossible to put down. Like most of these type of lengends, Lillie Langtry comes to mind, she was famous mostly for who she bedded and who she knew. BUT, there is MORE. Like Langtry, Lady Blackwood inspired whomever she came in contact with. Some woman just have that persona and I don't feel it is fair to overlook that part of their history. Once again, we put all the blame on the woman and forget that the MEN also had a say in their attachments to her lure. Her beauty was more an entire package rather than the classic sense of beauty, per se. I highly recommend this book to all Langtry fans and the woman who are interested in these types of tastemakers.

I agree with many of the criticisms of this book, and I thought it was a scream that Caroline was continually described as one of the great beauties of her day. If she was, the photos in the book do not do that statement any justice. (...) The description of her as a great beauty appears to be more fiction/legend than fact. (...)I was disappointed that the parallels between Caroline's alcohol/drug abuse and the tragedies and traumas in her life were never made.

Although the book was written from an extremely biased, romanticized point of view, I thought it was extremely well written and enjoyed reading it very much. For me, it had incredible entertainment value and had a similar appeal that a gothic Anne Rice story or a trashy Hollywood Jackie Collins novel might have. The book had incredible appeal as a sociopolitical commentary. (...) So for that expose alone and for writing in such a way that kept me engrossed in Caroline's story, I tip my hat off to Shoenberger and give this book a four star rating.

A bacchanal and major home renovations ensue when a bewheelchaired stranger crunches up the gravel driveway of a wealthy widow.

Corrigan, while fundraising for the handicapped in the English countryside, rolls into the heart and home of lonely Mrs. Blunt, much to the chagrin of her streetwise housekeeper and the daughter who stands to inherit her wealth.

Brilliantly concise and characterized by a dry and confident wit, Corrigan is charming, hilarious, and rage-inducing all at once. Note of interest: Blackwood picked up writing as a hobby when she was in her forties and married to poet Robert Lowell.

NYRB Classics was started a few years ago with the intention of re-issuing neglected cult favorite books which had fallen out of print; though many of their choices have been superb, a very few leave you scratching your head, wondering who is making the choices.

GREAT GRANNY WEBSTER is one such choice. By all accounts, Caroline Blackwood was a fascinating woman: heriess to the Guinness fortune, she counted among her sexual conquests Lucian Freud and Robert Lowell, and was a bewitching raconteur and bon vivant. But she wasn't much of a writer. Blackwood seemed never to have learned the lesson that a good fiction writer must show rather than tell. As a result, in this novel she tells us and tells us and tells us again what a monster the title character is, but Great-Granny Webster herself doesn't actually do much but sit around and show poor hospitality to her guests and relations. Yet still the narrator keeps fulminating against her for crimes mostly implied rather than real; as in Caroline Blackwood's final book, THE LAST OF THE DUCHESS, where she simultaneously weighed in again and again against the Duchess of Windsor's female lawyer, you begin to develop a perverse sympathy for the object of Blackwood's fury.

Even had this book accomplished what it set out to do it wouldn't have been much: the two main characters, Great-Granny Webster and Aunt Lavinia, seem like nothing readers haven't already seen (respectively) in Dickens and Evelyn Waugh. The really interesting story would be to hear who behind the scenes at NYRB brought this dud back into print and under what circumstances: THAT would be a book worth reading.