"The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post" is the best book I've read in a very long time. In fact, I love this book so much, topping it in 2022 will be a tough job!

Who is Marjorie Post?
Marjorie Post was the daughter of Charlie (C.W.) Post. In case that name does not ring a bell, he invented Post Cereal (now known as General Mills). Incredibly, the massive company we know today as General Mills started in a barn. C.W. was so broke, he started making Grape-Nuts Cereal and Postum coffee replacement in his barn where he taught Marjorie to package their products by applying adhesive to the boxes. As the business grew, C.W. and Marjorie became friends with Teddy Roosevelt, Henry, Ford, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and many others.

After her father's death in 1914, Marjorie took control of the family business and built it into the unbelievable mega empire it is today. Marjorie was a brilliant businesswoman who enjoyed living a royal lifestyle, but sadly paid for it through much pain and heartache in her personal life. This is her story told through the incredible writing of Allison Pataki.

Standing Ovation to Allison Pataki for this outstanding 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ book!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, for the wonderful honor of reviewing this e-book. Historical fictions fans are going to love it! Even the cover of the book is gorgeous! It will be published February 15, 2022.

Marjorie Post's father, C.W. Post revolutionized meals in America, he became an instant millionaire.. Although not able to serve on her father's Board of Directors, Marjorie continued his success in business and was a millionaire herself many times over. Her idea to purchase a frozen food company called BIrds Eye catapulted her company to great heights. She used her wealth for advocacy, but also to make herself the arbiter of good taste. While her third husband Joseph Davies was ambassador to Russia during the 30s, she single-handedly saved fantastic treasures from the Tsarist period of Russia from the revolutionary Bolsheviks - many for pennies on the dollar. Many of her acquisitions are on display at Hillwood Estate, some donated to the Smithsonian Institution and other sold to fund a food bank during the depression. She was a remarkable woman and she led a whirlwind live. An excellent book and a person to respect for her dedication and devotion to being fair, but enjoying life..

I’ve read Allison Pataki’s books in the past and love that she takes a real historical figure and brings their stories to life in a fictional format. I went into this one not knowing anything about Marjorie Post but feel that I have learned about her life. While I found Marjorie Post’s life interesting I did find myself kind of skimming through some chapters. Now you could easily chalk this up to mood - I am definitely a mood reader and if I’m just not feeling like historical fiction then I find it hard to get through. Overall I thought the writing was good and found the story interesting. Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

I would like to thank Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. I had heard of Marjorie Post but only as the wife of a wartime ambassador. I had ZERO idea what I was in for. By 50 books in, I felt like Marjorie (or Budgie) was my best friend. We learned about how she helped her father create Post Cereal and then expand it to add Birds Eye and so many more. I had NO idea about the houses she owned (including the last presidents pride and joy in florida was built and designed by Marjorie!) I can't quite adequately express how much I loved this book. What made me the saddest was her bad luck in marriages. You will not be sorry if you picked up this book! I'd give it a 100 stars if I could!

Marjorie Merriweather Post had a lot of money, but she will be known for the people she helped and the powerful figures she entertained. Beginning in Battle Creek, Michigan working in her father’s barn, no one would have imagined her family’s small cereal idea would skyrocket to become the General Foods empire.

This book is a treasure trove of US history ( late 1800s-mid 1900’s). So much happened during those eras, so it’s just one drama after another. Marjorie Merriweather Post was no typical heiress and I’m so glad I got to learn about her. There were so many cameos from familiar figures in history… she hobnobbed with many important people! This book is quite the soap opera, except real life. I would have gave it five stars but the later portions during the wars felt a little rushed, which is understandable since there was so much going on.

“It’s just like my daddy always says: channel the power of the mind. If you want to change your circumstances, then you have to change your attitude.”

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post comes out 2/15.

What an amazing journey!! Riveting story of a wealthy yet generous woman.
The descriptions of homes and social events brings the reader right into the picture.

“Marjorie Merriweather Post lived her long life to the fullest; hers was a grand and epic story from start to finish, and it is my great fortune to write fiction inspired by her.” - Allison Pataki, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Shining Stars!

I thoroughly enjoyed Pataki’s novel of Marjorie Post. Though she was an heiress, businesswoman, American diplomat, and an avid art collector, I think that she would most like to be remembered as a dedicated philanthropist. A statement she tried to live by was that “Wealth is a great responsibility, more than it is a privilege.” She never strayed too far from what her father would’ve expected of her, which I appreciated.

Though she was a shrewd businesswoman the same could not be said about her disastrous love life. Married 4 times, I have to admit to being a bit surprised each time she jumped into a new marriage only to have it ultimately fail. I do wish she’d been able to have as much success in this area of her life as she did in all others.

As Pataki states in her acknowledgments, “there is enough information on Post’s long, lavish, and layered life that one could write fifty novels about her, each with a different story arc and each stretching hundreds of pages.” I could not agree more and, what’s more, I’d enjoy reading every one of them.

My reading time was interrupted many times with some rewarding Google searching which added another layer of enjoyment for me. I really am grateful that I got to know this remarkable woman through Pataki’s writing… Marjorie is a person that I will not forget. This will definitely go down as one of my favorites of the year. . 5+++ stars.

4.5 stars

I received a complimentary Kindle book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Allison Pataki, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This is an incredible book - I so loved learning about the life of Marjorie Merriweather Post. For full honestly, I have loved ALL of Allison Pataki's adult books. She is an incredible writer of historical fiction which is my favorite genre.

I had heard of Marjorie Merriweather Post (the name Post is a big tip-off), but I had no idea about her incredible philanthropic efforts. It was incredible the wonderful things that she did that were noticed, but it is obvious that there are so many things that were NOT noticed.

She seemed to have incredible style, hospitality, and amazing joie de vivre. Marjorie had amazing homes, parties, and friends. I know that I would have LOVED her - she was a meticulous perfectionist just like me. If only!!

I know that Allison Pataki could have written many more chapters on Ms. Post's life. But, I love that I have read enough that I want to know more. It has given me a hunger to learn how to be more philanthropic and be more like Marjorie Merriweather Post!!

This book is a colorful, fun, and engaging read!! I stayed up WAY too late last night reading it!! It is my 4th fantastic book of 2022 - it is going to be a great literary year!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

I saw the name "Marjorie Post", it struck a memory in me. I knew the name, I remember hearing itas a child growing up in the 60s and 70s. But I didn't know who or what she was other than the heiress to the Post Cereal fortune.
I really did enjoy reading this book, but I am coming away from it with conflicting views of Marjorie Post.
Marjorie spent most of her childhood years in Battle Creek, Michigan. Always an early riser, she would feed the chickens, then spend countless hours with her beloved father, once he started the cereal business, she was by his side, taste testing, gluing labels on boxes and any other task that was set before her.
Marjorie inherited a fortune when her father passed away, but even with all that money she couldn't buy happiness when it came to love. Four failed marriages at a time when divorce was frowned upon, Marjorie kept making the same mistakes in love, picking men and rushing into marriage before she even knew them.
I have a conflicted view of Miss Post after reading her story. n the one hand she is portrayed as a generous philanthropist, building hospitals during WWI and WWII, a hospital in Florida, food canteens to feed the huduring the great depression, all very worthy causes. But then on the other hand she comes across as a spoiled socialite, more worried about her status in society, buying more and more expensive things to show off and display. She brags about herself, her hostess abilities, is overly concerned about throwing the perfect, most lavish party she can. She comes across as somewhat narcissistic and most assuredly materialistic. Also, nothing was ever because of her actions, her marriages failing were all the fault of the men, never her. I wonder about that when she talks several times about "her money, her company, etc". No one wants someone to lord over them the fact that they have more than you and I would wager a guess that just maybe her husbands got tired of hearing it?
This book was interesting, especially the beginning about her father and how Post cereal come to be, after that it was a relentless litany of Marjorie's bad decision making in regards to men. Four times she fell for a guy on the first time she meets him? And four times they all betray her? A bit far fetched to me.
There is a lot to learn about Marjorie in this book, just don't expect to come out of it with fuzzy warm feelings for the lady. I found self-centered, vain and as I said materialistic. Hopefully I am wrong and this impression I have gotten may be due to the author's style of writing. I would love to think of her as a kind-hearted philanthropist trying to better the world anyway she can. You read the book and decide for yourself, the writing is good, it is well researched, it held my interest.
Thank you to Random House and Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

I was captivated by this story initially. The background on Marjorie's parents, her father's illness and his invention of Grape Nuts. Once the story moved on to Marjorie's first marriage, the story started to lose steam and continued to go downhill

This book felt like it was trying to paint a picture of a wealthy socialite as a victim. People kept her on the outskirts of society initially because she was from "new" money and from Battle Creek, Michigan. Then because she married a man who got a divorce just to be able to marry her. So Marjorie built gigantic houses to make them jealous. This was a continuous theme - building monster houses/estates that cost in the millions. But then the story would try to paint her as amazing for donating 100,000 for a hospital. When the country was at war, she donated her time and resources, but for some reason, if there was not a war to spur her volunteerism on, she seemingly did nothing but vacation or entertain. She had a horrible track record with husbands, replaying the same mistakes, but each time saying that this one met her needs the way no one else had. (it got old). She seemed to blame the end of all her relationships solely on the ex - taking on zero of the blame herself.

The most frustrating part of this all is that I think it is the way that this story is written that made me have such a hard time with Marjorie. She felt overbearing, jealous and a one-upper. I really don't think that is how the author set out to portray her. Unfortunately, that is the way this story hit me, I had a hard time feeling any sympathy or affection toward her. In reading the epilogue, there was a lot of respect for Marjorie and her efforts in donating and building and makes me want to read more about her in a non-fiction book. This story makes you feel almost disgusted by the amount of wealth and the little efforts made to extend her good fortune to others. For example, during the depression, she opens a soup kitchen (awesome!) with her name on it (really?!) but then BUYS A YACHT AND SAILS AROUND THE WORLD. during the most devastating and needy time in US history. Huh??? In another example, she gets stationed in Russia with her husband as ambassador and she notices the extreme inconsistencies in the "classes." A couple pages later, she ends up supporting the crooked Russian government by buying jeweled ashtrays and other assorted alarmingly elaborate and expensive items owned by previous tsars. Did she buy those to put in museums to preserve history? Nope. She bought them to display in her house during parties. She did end up donating them to museums, but not until after her death. I feel like I could go on and on. The whole book ended up feeling like excess, excess, privilege and completely out of touch.to me.

The final frustration of mine was with the portrayal of her business acumen. She must have had plenty. She became the first chairman of the board in a world where women were NOT in power. The only contribution she made that was discussed was her insistence in buying a frozen foods company. I know she had to have far more influence on the company with her name on it than that. The story instead was about her unhappy marriages, her endless planning and building of mansions, her ability to be an immaculate hostess and her place in history as one of the richest heiresses.

Sorry for the rant - but this was a total miss and frustrating read for me. I VERY rarely rate a book under 3 stars, but I can not recommend this one. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy to read and review.

I was really excited for this book but it ended up being a huge disappointment. The beginning and building of the cereal business was fascinating but the more the story progressed, the more it felt like Marjorie was just out of sync with society. She tossed crumbs to those struggling during the depression while continuing to live lavishly. It just felt in poor taste and was very off putting for enjoyment of the story.

This book is a gift I gave myself. Allison Pataki is a wonderful historical fiction writer, and this book reaffirms why.

Marjorie Post was the daughter of Charles Post, the founder of Post cereal. His company revolutionized American food and later branched out and became General Foods. Not only was Marjorie a large part of the company's success, but she also had a very interesting, and not very well known, life. Many accomplishments, lots of marriages, involvement with many charities, living with extreme wealth, and friendships with many famous historical figures make this book riveting. This one is for fans of The Social Graces or any books about the Vanderbilts, Kennedys, or royals. I am so happy I read this book and had a glimpse into the incredible life of Marjorie Post.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review. I rate this book five very enthusiastic stars.

What a fantastically entertaining and awe-inspiring woman! This is not a person I would have looked into reading about. Heck it's not even a person I even knew about. Certainly the last name Post made me think of Post Cereal and I was intrigued by that alone. Allison Pataki writes biographical fiction as well as anyone else in the business. Pataki sheds a light on a woman who, along with her father, symbolizes a true rags to riches story. Her extraordinary vision helped expand the Post Cereal Company into a business that redefined American food choices. Marjorie was a vital component to the war effort during both the 1st and 2nd World Wars. Through her wealth she was able to acquire a large quantity of Russian art and jewelry which probably saved it from being either lost or otherwise forgotten about. While some might get disgusted by how Marjorie seems to need a man in her life, I found that including this part of her was important to understanding her. Marjorie enjoyed her wealth, her life status, and the opportunities she had as a result of the two. A simply riveting story about a remarkable woman!

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.

I typically only read nonfiction, aside from the Outlander series, so take that for what it's worth.

This book caught my attention because of the subject of the story - a woman who was an incredible powerhouse when women were still only expected to look pretty and host nice parties. While Marjorie's life was no doubt quite magnificent, I'm not sure the book does her justice. Given the length of the book, it feels like a great deal of detail and nuance was left behind. Beyond the chapters regarding Marjorie's childhood, It never felt like there was a deep dive into her own mind or her actions - the book felt very superficial (much like Majorie ended up feeling for me).

Although it's obviously a fictional work, the author indicated that there was a great deal of research that had gone into the creation of the book. Despite that, it feels more like reading the Cliff Notes version of Marjorie's life. In so many spots there could've been more detail to really set the stage or fill in the blanks of her life. The story feels very disjointed in how it skips around and kind of leaves you wondering what really happened.

Even if it was fully made-up, it would've been nice to see some self-examination or assessment of the situations in which she found herself. Instead, the book was essentially a series of "men don't respect me, I'm bored so let me build a house, oh I'll do some good for the common people, too, but then I'm bored and my husband is a prick..." I really didn't finish the book feeling anything positive for the main character. I pitted her for being astonishingly naive, which I'm sure was partly a result of her being a product of her time, but at the end of the day I really only feel like she was aloof, rich, and lacked basic sense.

I received an advance reading copy (arc) of this book from the publisher and NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. When I first started reading this book, I had my doubts. First off, the central figure, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was richer than rich and so far removed from my way of life that I didn't think we'd have much in common and then when I discovered the book was written in first person, I really wasn't sure I would like it. To my delight, however, I was drawn in by Chapter Two. Author Allison Pataki did a fine job bringing Post to life from her humble beginnings in Battle Creek, Michigan to her lavish lifestyle hobnobbing with the rich and famous in her many mansions. An only child, she apparently had a close relationship with her father, C.W. Post, who founded Post Cereals and made a fortune off of his vision to make life easier for women everywhere. After his suicide, Marjorie was not allowed to sit on the board of what is today General Foods simply because she was a woman. She did have input, however, and at her urgings, the company acquired Clarence Birdseye's modest factory and a slew of other companies. Her personal life was not so happy. She had four colorful, but failed marriages, resulting in three daughters including actress Dina Merrill. Marjorie Post lived a full life as navigated through a world of presidents and royalty. She even served a stint in Russia as the wife of Ambassador William Dodd. Despite her lavish lifestyle, she gave generously funding hospitals, schools, and soup kitchens along the way. She even donated her yacht for service during World War II. I honestly found the woman fascinating and will be looking for more books about her. I will also be looking for more books by Allison Pataki. Her work is outstanding and I am glad she introduced me to Marjorie Merriweather Post.

I had heard of Marjorie Post but I never knew her story before reading this. The author does a good job of depicting her life but definitely spends more time discussing her wealth and her affinity for living a luxuious lifestyle, from the diamonds and treasures she collected to her love of hosting grand parties. Surely she could afford it and those times were different. But I was most impressed with her business acumen and ability to see trends in the marketplace for food products. Her purchase of Birds Eye that launched frozen food was remarkable. Unfortunately, women were not taken seriously then and it's only because she was the daughter of CW Post that she had the level of involvement she did. With her talent for organization and logistics, she could have played a much more important role in the company. Instead, she applied her skills to charity and building numerous mansions/homes. I can see why you might think she was a shallow person because of the focus on her wealth, but she also did much to spread the wealth to those who needed it. I just think this book was more focused on the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Thank you @netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy to read.

Marjorie Post inherited the Post Cereal Company when her father died. She was not, however, allowed to sit on the board because she was a woman. She had an uncle and another trusted man who ran the company and kept her in the loop. She married 3 times and had 3 daughters. She did help the company expand, and benefitted with great homes and jewels but also gave back help where it was needed.

A fascinating story about an extraordinary girl who would grow up to be an extraordinary woman, even if she wasn’t too good at judging a man’s character, having had four marriages.

I especially loved the the early thread that involved her pioneering father, C W Post and the impact he would have on Marjorie, both in character and philanthropy. The apple did not fall far from the tree. I devoured this book in three days. A newly discovered author and I savored every chapter. I look forward to reading additional Allison Patake’s books.

Readers of historical fiction, mark your calendars for this books release date. It is fabulous.

Allison Pataki tells the story of Marjorie Merriweather Post from her childhood right on through her “many lives.” She was a daughter, wife (multiple times), mother, key part of Post (later known as General) Foods, society woman, charitable worker and donor, ambassador’s wife, builder of multiple estates and more. The pages just flew as I followed Marjorie through her life.

Readers will travel with Marjorie to many locations. Among these are Battle Creek, Washington DC, Manhattan, the Adirondacks, Palm Beach (Mar-a-Lago) and Moscow. Readers experience Marjorie’s own experiences in each of these places.

Relationships were a big part of Marjorie’s life. No spoiler so I won’t write about how many times she married or who her husbands or children were.

I so highly recommend this book to those who enjoy historical fiction. It is one of the best that I have read in this genre.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

One of my favorite bits of historical fiction is that you enter worlds that you'd never thought to touch on before - The Kellog brand is so ubiquitous, and yet I never spent any time thinking about the family itself or the woman who is heir to the fortune.

I think that there was an assumption on my part that Marjorie Post cannot be a feminist - and yet, this book turns that on its head. The author reveals how Miss Post advocated for equal education, and the ways in which she subtly undermined sexism through business, gaining power at a time when that was extremely difficult to do.

I would recommend this for a well-paced and informative read that never feels dry or repetitive.