Before listening to this audiobook, I did not know much about the Rothschilds. However, these women had fascinating stories. The narrator was very engaging and compelling. I hope there will be more stories on the women in the future!

This was an extremely interesting audiobook, but it was also very long. I really liked the narrators of the audiobook and would probably recommend the audiobook over the physical copy just due to the amount of content and history in the book. I found it to be easier to consume and get through the book in the listening format rather than the reading format.

This is an incredibly well researched book. The Women of Rothschild, tells the story of the women of the Rothschild dynasty. Forging their own paths as Jews in a Christian society and women in a man’s world, Livingstone paints detailed portraits of each of these women. I’m not going to lie, there are A LOT of women profiled in this book. So many that I had difficulty keeping them all straight. But my favorite was Miriam Rothschild, possibly because she was a more contemporary figure, but also because she was breaking barriers and making scientific discoveries all without the same education of her male peers. This isn’t a book you are going to fly through. This is book that you are going to spend some time with and walk away more knowledgeable about the women behind some very powerful men…and those are the stories that are the most interesting.

Natalie Livingstone laid out the rise of the Rothschild family through the lens of the women in the family. Each of the women profiled left an indelible mark on their legacy and success.

Meticulously researched, and spanning two centuries, this non-fiction book had me yearning to watch Downton Abbey or another period drama to immerse myself in the various eras.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for accepting my request to audibly read and review The Women of Rothschild.

Author: Natalie Livingstone
Narrator: Francesca Waters
Published: 10/25/22
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs -- History

Well-documented and researched facts; while I didn't fact check, I've read enough to know there was a passion involved in this book. The facts and the narration were both too dry to maintain my attention. There were bits and pieces, respectfully, of trivia tidbits that would pique my interest at that time. Sadly, nothing stands out now.

I believe someone was excited when they saw the title. (Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis does it for me.) There is a market, and I would gift this to someone that asks, is a Rothschild enthusiast, or someone who I knew to be a smart reader.

Behind every great man is an even greater woman. This could not be more true throughout history as Ms Livingstone highlights the Rothschild ladies' sweeping influence throughout Europe and the New World. Their reach spans centuries and over several continents. Painstakingly researched and superbly narrated, Linvingstone's 'The Women of Rothschild' shows how interwoven society, politics, religion, and economics are with one another. Fascinating and engaging, I plan to reread several more times as it is rich in detail.

The Women Of Rothschild was a very informative book. I've heard the name, but didn't know much about the family, especially the women. I did find it to be long and tedious, though and lost interest along the way.

3.5
My Interest

The name “Rothschild” conjures up for me images of unimaginable wealth. Aristocratic families are a big interest of mine, so when I saw this on NetGalley I requested it and somehow got both a print and an audio copy. I listened to the audio.
The Story

Starting in the 18th century in “Jewish ghetto” and ending in the late 1990s, this biography purports to tell the real story of the women behind the Rothschild men. We are promised that the women were more than mere wives and mothers. What did these women do as the wives and daughters of one of the world’s best known Jewish families? That is what the biography sets out to tell us. The family is compared to a royal family because they all hate each other but close ranks and form a united front in public–I loved that, even if I couldn’t stop and write out the exact quote. (NetGalley’s reading app doesn’t have any features and I forgot and downloaded to it and not Kindle, so it wasn’t easy to find it).

In the early years the women were more involved with the family business, but as time went on they fell into the normal society lady type charitable works. There is nothing unusual about a great “lady” helping with encouragement and money to improve the education of poor children, nor is there really anything unusual about them working to improve health conditions. It was unusual for anyone to take up the cause of Jewish “women of the night,” but as others were doing it for non-Jewish women of that profession I don’t really see it as that unique.

Fast-forward to the 20th Century. While various men of the family involved themselves in the late 19th Century with the Prince of Wales “Marlborough House” set, there was little remarkable about that, either. They had pots and pots of money. The Prince often needed it. Sir Ernest Cassel (Grandfather of Edwina Mountbatten) was another Jewish financier in the Marlborough House set.

Finally, somewhere around World War II or just after we get to some slightly more interesting activities. A Rothchild woman contributed to a report hoping to de-criminalize h o _ – se-u _; ! ty. Good thing, since at least one of the men had such proclivities. Miriam became an expert on fleas and other parasites. She was finally even welcomed by “professionals” for her extensive knowledge. Veronica, aka “Nica’ gets the lion’s share of the coverage–or rather her famous male associates to. Thelonious Monk and Charlie “Bird” Parker. The hose she built for jazz sessions was called “The Cat House.” And, she observed first hand a Jim Crow-era beating in New Castle, Delaware (a Civil War border state) that Monk endured.

Finally, another end-of-the-book Rothschild, discovers that motherhood isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. Being rich and having discovered this, she got to write about it. Wow. I think Betty Friedan beat you to it, Sweetie, but …. Goodness knows it must be way harder to be a Mom with a ton of money in the 1990’s than in the stifling suburbia and low pay of the early 1950s!

Miriam, of flea fame, also did contribute in a very humanitarian way to the founding of Israel and the Zionist movement as led by the nation’s first President, Chaim Weizmann. That was very commendable and I would like to have heard more about that.
My Thoughts

I’m being a bit snarky for a reason. There is so much MORE material in here (as there often is in such biographies of pre-21th Century women) about the men. And the man with the most coverage wasn’t even a Rothschild! He was Theolnious Monk, a great jazz musician. I love his music, his talent, but I came to read about how different the Rothschild women were. Instead I found out they did exactly the same sort of charity work as most other titled ladies of the era until about the time of World War II. Helping decriminalize you-know-what is very noteworthy. Also, Miriam certainly deserves praise for sticking to her studies and taking her naturalist studies to the professional level. (I loved that she included her son in her research)/

This is not a bad biography. I learned a lot. The prose is well written. It just didn’t profile enough about the women that was “exceptional.” I also found it very weird that they married cousins and it was even possible for an uncle to marry a niece–though not the very bold uncle whose announcement of such a marriage was one of the stories in the book. Too weird for words. Liberty Rothschild, the hidden “Rosemary Kennedy” of the family, deserved more attention, but alas, the records about her treatment were mostly burnt. I also like the appearance at the very, very end of Lady Bird Johnson and her “beautification” schemes with wildflowers. That was wonderful. She gave the world a gift–nice to see someone outside America, and with influence, admiring her work.
My Verdict

3.5

The Women of Rothschild by Natalie Livingstone

This was a very interesting and extremely well researched book. However, I made the mistake of listening to the audio book version. There were so many details and names, that it would have been easier to keep track of it all in a paper book version.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars

I was excited to get a glimpse into the world of the famous Rothschilds with a new focus on the women from the family. Livingstone's book reads as a historical text book and is very well researched with a litany of facts but lacked the heart needed to make these women real and show their true hidden values. I didn't come out of this book with a renewed sense or interest in any of these women. I had the audio version narrated by Francesca Waters whos monotone reading made an already dense text, painful.

Phew that was an exhaustive story! Following the very beginnings of the eventual Rothschild Dynasty, it careful concentrated on the ladies of the family. Following generations, that were initially encouraged to marry within either the family or another Jewish man, this was a story of strong women, determined to make their mark, even though many were in the background.

The family went on to become an integral part of all of Europe with their enormous wealth and far reaching influence. Coming from the ghetto initially, it was truly a story of how the family, assisted by the women, became one of the most powerful families of the day. Even today, the Rothschild name is well known. Beginning in Frankfort, Germany, they were of the Ashkenazi Jews. They credited their rise to power and wealth through the skills of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who started his banking business. In the nineteenth century, they were the wealthiest family in the world.

The book well points out the extreme prejudice the Jews suffered and the progress this family made in entering both the social and political scenes that they eventually arrived at. The wealth of the family initially passed through the sons, but as time progressed the women also inherited.

The ills of womanhood, particularly death from childbirth as well as the diseases of the day painted a picture that was no always rosy for the family. Marrying a Christian was forbidden, but eventually that too, faded away with more modern times.

This is a long book and one that took patience to read/listen to. Thank you to NetGalley for both the written and audio performance of this book.

What a fascinating book about fascinating women. The one disappointment I had was that the story always came back to other people — generally, men — which surely is an artifact of the dominance of men. But truly an interesting history and an enjoyable narrator who kept me engaged.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.
I really had thought this might be more interesting and might contain more ….personality. This was deeply boring and basically just a recitation of facts and no feeling. This is not something I appreciate in my nonfiction.

I learned a lot from this Historical Nonfiction Version of a Multigenerational Saga. The book traces not only the Rothschild women themselves, but also the shifting attitudes and social expectations throughout a span of nearly 2 centuries. A few women like Hannah Mayer, Constance, and Miriam particularly stood out to me.

The audiobook is narrated by Francesca Waters. I found her performance to be engaging and easy to listen to.

I was interested in this book because I enjoy non-fiction and interested in history. This book in particular sheds lights to female members of Rothchild dynasty, which were not focused very much in past.

The book generally follow chronological timelines and it begins in 18th century Germany, in Frankfurt ghetto. From this dismal circumstances, Gutle Rothschild survives and has ten children. The children relocates to England as well as neighboring European countries, then further to the New Continent and beyond with the emersion of the world war. It covers eighth generation of the Rothschilds, and the book does a great job weaving historical backgrounds into the family history. Besides the Rothschilds being a very wealthy family, I knew very little about them. I feel I learned a lot of interesting aspects of this fascinating family.

I would imagine this book can be enjoyed by history buffs, especially by feminists. Even though one has no interest in history, I feel the book is engaging because it includes familiar historical figures and events without being too gossipy. I feel it's very well written book. The original book version came out in 2021 and somehow I never heard of this book. I feel very fortunate to encounter this book, thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an advance copy of this audiobook for review purposes. The narrator Francesca Waters does a terrific job in narration.

I give it 4-star rating for my review, because at almost 14 hours, the audiobook is a bit long, and by the time I was 70% into it I began to forget the first part of the book. It is pretty comprehensive and there are a lot of characters, some of them with the same names - so it does get a bit confusing after awhile, even though the author does great job focusing on limiting characters to 3-4 people per generation. Still, there are a lot of people and it would be helpful to have a visual reference such as a family tree (included in the physical book). So I feel I might have enjoyed it more with a physical copy of the book. Also, by covering so many generations of the family, it's difficult to feel connected to any one character - rather, the book is an overview of this fascinating clan. I still think this book would be a great choice for "non-fiction November" and would recommend to others. Thank you!

I was hoping yo get a more detailed story about these woman … I was a bit disappointed with the story and didn’t finish it …

Extensive research was done for this audio compilation of the family history of the Rothschild women.  Not a stone was left unturned as we learn about their beginnings in Frankfurt, Germany with Gutle, aged 17, marrying Mayer Amschel Rothschild straight through to the twentieth century.

The narration, done by Francesca Waters, was quite good, easy on the ears, distinct pronunciations.  I did find myself getting lost when the narration would abruptly switch to the history of a different person in the middle of a chapter.  For this reason, I would probably find it best to read this in print rather than listen to the audio.  This way one could easily flip back to reread or make notes.  This is not a fault of the narrator nor the author.  There is just so much information that it is hard to keep each individual in perspective.

History buffs will surely enjoy the hard work put into this encyclopedia of sorts and I certainly enjoyed reading of the strength of these women who, in my eyes, were the backbone of the Rothschild dynasty.

My thanks to #NetGalley and @MacmillanAudio for this ARC.  This opinion is my own.

The topic of this book is absolutely fascinating. I think the author’s topic is great, as is her scene-setting. I do think the narrator is terrible. The narrator of this audiobook has a lisp that is so distracting. I can’t pay attention because the lisp is so strong.

The Women of Rothschild
By: Natalie Livingstone
Narrated By: Francesca Waters
Review Score: 3 1/2 Stars

Five Key Feels

-The fact that the family started back in the 1700’s is wild.

-It was interesting to see how the women of the family slowly gained power.

-I learned so much about how people of Jewish faith struggled in other countries as well, not just what we see in the rise of World War 2.

-The fact that the family would stop talking to a person if they married a Christian is wild to me.

-I loved seeing how the trajectory of the family lined up with events happening in other countries (like the French Revolution).

———


The Women of Rothschild was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Macmillan Audio. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 10/25/22

The Women of Rothschild was a fascinating story about the rise of the family, and the role the women played. I feel like I learned so much about how they became such a powerful family, and the trials they faced to get there.

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The Women of Rothschild was a very interesting look into one of history's richest families. I really liked the focus on each of the women in the family, and how they were involved in English society. I also appreciated spotlighting how influential they were.