I was really intrigued by the description of this book, but found the content dull and dry. I did not like the audio narrator, but may find this title better to just read. What should have been a "juicy" topic just fell flat unfortunately.

This was an interesting selection of biographies, but I found the organization of the book a bit hard to follow. It jumped around a bit between stories.

Heiresses is about a compilation of women from the past who were used for their money and mistreated simply because they were seen as property. There were many cases of women being kidnapped or duped into marriage (like we see in movies) just for their money. It is infuriating to listen to how women were treated and the lack of rights they had to anything including their own children in that time. I had expected to recognize more of the heiresses discussed, but I ended up learning about a lot of women I had never heard of. The author writes in a way that makes you feel like you are just talking over coffee. I appreciate this kind of relaxed narrative for such a long book.

The narration for this book was awesome, the narrator's voice was steady and soothing, and was able to be sped up easily.

Many interesting facts are revealed in this thoroughly researched book! So many women with an abundance of riches at their fingertips, but are rarely allowed to find their own way or make their own decisions. So few had happy & fulfilling lives. They were used as pawns for wealth exchange and lands and to secure allies.

I love narrative nonfiction, but this one had so many heiress details to share it was hard to stay focused. It wasn't exactly the book I thought I would be reading.

Yet another book I really enjoyed and have recommended to my followers, but forgot to add a review here.

This book was well-researched and extremely interesting. I listened to it straight through and have recommended it many times to my followers. Both the author and the narrator did a wonderful job bringing these ladies to life, thank you so much for the advanced copy.

I tried multiple times to get into this book, but I just had such a hard time with the narrator and the story. It also felt like it was a list of things being read to me. I think others may enjoy it, but to me it was just too hard to get into. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't what I was expecting. It was too languid, muddled, and drawn out for the topics. I might have been able to push through. But I had a hard time understanding the narrator. Tons of research is presented. If you know (and like) who the people are already, it might be a decent read for you.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* this was an interesting read, though i knew about how things were done this was an interesting nonfiction. would buy.

I’ve tried a few times now to read this but have struggled to get through the first 100 pages. The information is intriguing but the manner in which it is presented feels scattered and almost list like.

Sadly adding it to my DNF pile.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was really informative and gave me a lot of historical information that I didn't have before. I learned so much, but was surprised that when we got to the Vanderbilt family, that it didn't go further into Gloria's life. I was also surprised it didn't go full circle and end on today's heiresses.

I didn't love how long this took me to get through. The inflection of the narrator was not super amazing and it was very dull and boring in its delivery. I wanted it to be more exciting for the material and it just took me too long to get through, despite how interesting it really was!

I received an ARC of this audiobook by the publisher via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

The Heiress is an archetype that we all are familiar with, whether it be Consuelo Vanderbilt or Paris Hilton. We glamorize heiresses and dream of being them. Thompson goes into great detail about many different heiresses from the 18th century to the 1970s from the United Kingdom and US. Some of the women are well known to us today and many others have had their stories forgotten. It's hard to keep track of all the heiresses Thompson covered, because of the sheer volume. Thompson goes into the gossip and background of these women, whose stories skewed towards the tragic. Suicide, abuse, depression, anorexia, divorce, addiction, kidnapping, coercion, are just a few of the repeated patterns you see play out constantly.

After a certain point, the tragic stories of terrible marriages became overwhelming and depressing. The lives of history's heiresses proves the point that money doesn't automatically lead to happiness. I think Thompson would've benefited curtailing the list of heiresses covered in the book, and focused more on the most interesting women from the different eras. It took me a longtime to finish this book because sometimes it felt like an information dump and I had zero chance of keeping up with who was who.

I give Heiresses 3 out of 5 stars. I learned a lot and enjoyed the gossipy tone of the writing but the book could've benefited from focusing on fewer women.

I listened to this book while doing my housework for a few days, and all I kept thinking is, "these poor women." I thought, "maybe cleaning this toilet isn't so bad" 😆 The heiresses that author Laura Thompson discusses have access to large sums of money, but there are so many strings attached. They're married off as business transactions, lovers hustle them, they're kidnapped, they're locked away in asylums...their fortunes bring so many obstacles and problems. I had heard of a few of these heiresses before, but not all of them. For example, Mary Davies, whose marriage was agreed upon when she was 8. At the age of 12, she married her 21-year-old husband and eventually gave birth to 3 sons. After her husband's death, Mary ran off to Paris at the age of 36 and remarried. Her family was so upset that they tried to have her marriage annulled, and at the age of 40, they had her committed to an asylum. The only downside to this book is that it is EXTREMELY detailed and I am not sure if I would recommend the audio version. I think a physical copy where I could have seen the overall trajectory of each chapter and the book as a whole would have been easier to process.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review. I do not remember what I was expecting but I feel like this book at times did not follow any sort of timeline. I do like that it covered a variety of heiresses and different situations. It went on an in depth story on some while it skimmed stories of others. It was written really well and I liked the narrator.

This book chronicles many lives of heiresses over the last few centuries, both in the US and Europe. Ranging from the incredible philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts to Patty Hearst to Consuelo Vanderbilt to Barbara Hutton, Thompson goes into depth how these women got their inheritances of millions and either spent it righteously or squandered it. There was immense detail about the practice of abducting heiresses, something I’d heard about but did not know how prevalent it was! This book was clearly immaculately researched and it is obvious Thompson was very passionate about this subject.

I struggled with this book - it could be that it was all about people with a ton of money who just flippantly spent it? But also, it was all over the place, I could barely keep the people straight because it would segue between the 18th century to the 20th in the blink of an eye. (A caveat: I did listen to this on audio, so it may have been easier to follow had I actually been reading it). And while it touted feminism for these women, it seemed at times to take many of the issues women have faced for time memorial and trivilize them.

Talk about fascinating on so many levels. From an outsider looking in, I never realized the danger some of these women experienced. I mean…you see the riches but you don’t see the scary side of the wealth. And this book covers so many heiresses over several centuries. These ladies had so many advantages, but the dangers they faced because of these advantages really were terrifying.

The narrator, who is also the author, Laura Thompson is superb. It is always so much better when the author is able to read their own work. Now, I will say, there were places that different words were used, or rather a different language. These were hard to determine or understand. It only happened occasionally. But it did make me pause and try to figure it out. Also, the money used in many instances was in euros, it’s hard to convert that to dollars when driving down the road…just a little hiccup if you decide to listen to this book.

This book captivated me from start to finish. Life is not all a bed of roses, no matter how much money you have!

Need a unique take on being an heiress…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Title: Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
Date Read: March 5, 2022
Rating: 4 out of 5


I received this audiobook from Netgalley (courtesy of St. Martin's Press) for an advanced copy to review.

I have really been into the HBO series 'The Gilded Age'. When I saw Netgalley offer this book for an advanced copy I had to get my hands on it. This books (audiobook) is broken into four parts. It starts off with heiresses I can all connect with from the stories I have grown up with. The classic heiress characters speckled all throughout literature. Pointing out these heiresses are mirrored reflections of lives of heiresses of those times. Honestly, I don't think I've even gave a thought about some of the heiresses in many of the classics I've read, especially when they are secondary characters. I have a feeling from now on I will be paying more attention to how the authors shape their heiress characters.

After a dive into the literary world Thompson goes through lives about Georgian era heiresses in British & American. This is interesting because much of the subjects are about women's rights (or lack of), mental health (or lack of), lesbianism, abuse, kidnapping, court cases, and as we get closer to the 20th century more issues/subjects arise. It's a lot to unpack with a lot of information due to the style of the book. It's more of a history book that goes through a lot of details which is great because I enjoy nonfiction books like that. So if you are looking for lots of stories, you will be disappointed. I found all of it fascinating. This book has sparked my interest in wanting to read more about Alice de Janzé, Nancy Cunard, Barbara Hutton, and Angela Burdett-Coutts.

Now for the audio review. Narration is by the author Laura Thompson. I found her performance good. For the style of the book she read it the way it needed to be read.

I gave this book three stars, but would usually give it two. I bumped to three based on the fact that while some of the information was interesting - I did not enjoy the narrator (the author), and the book was rather jumpy. Audiobooks allow me to listen while I am working, cleaning, or other items that need to be done. I enjoy them, and listen to them often. Maybe a different narrator would have made a difference... I don't know

Now for the review..
History is one of my favorite areas. I read, live, breathe, and teach it. When I saw this book, and that it had an audio version, I thought it was perfect! I could "Read" while I was working. I just COULD NOT get into the book! As I was listening to the audio version of this book, I found myself wishing over and over that I had just requested a copy of the book to read. I might have enjoyed it more.
When we think of heiresses, we want the gossip, the background, the stories of these women. I felt much of it was glossed over, and it read more like a research paper than a book. It seemed as though the author had different trains of thought as she would jump through different names, leaving the person listening a little confused. I stopped listening while I was working, hoping that if I paid more attention, it would be easier to follow. Nope.
As I was listening, I found myself jotting down names that I could go and find more information. I was disappointed with some of the lack of background on some of the young women.

While there is some great research in this book, it just felt disjointed, and not fully thought out. There were too many choppy portions, and some of it just felt rather dry.
I may try to find a copy of this book later - to see if I enjoy it more just reading through it, but we shall see. Great idea for a book, just needs some smoothing to be completely seamless.

It was an interesting book and I throughly enjoyed it. I would reccomend it to anyone interested in premodern wealthy women

Overly academic, with much wood to whittle. If I’d been editing this for a grad student, I would’ve cut sooooo much out of this one. Dry, dull, and the narrator unfortunately was as well.

A fascinating look into the lives of women who inherited their fortunes and what became of them. While I enjoyed this glimpse into their lives, it felt more like reading an encyclopedia with dry biographies and not as much to give me a feel for what they were really like. There were some sad tales intermixed with the happier stories but I wanted more about their personas to flesh them out as people.

The audio was well done, no issues.