Susan Mary Alsop had charm, wit, spirit and grace. Henry Kissinger remarked that more agreements were concluded in her living room than in the White House. AMERICAN LADY: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop (Viking; $26.95; ISBN: 978-0-670-02574-9; On Sale November 8, 2012) by Caroline de Margerie (with an introduction by Frances FitzGerald), tells the story of an American aristocrat with European tastes who, with her husband Joe Alsop, was a first-hand witness to “history on the boil”.

A descendant of founding father John Jay and a young debutante in New York City, Susan Mary Jay (1918-2004) was determined to be more than a pretty face. When her first husband, Bill Patten, was sent to Paris after World War II to work at the embassy, she found herself on the diplomatic social circuit and at the center of political and cultural debates, on outings with Winston Churchill, Raymond Aron and General Marshall, wearing dresses by Christian Dior and Balenciaga. While in Paris she met the love of her life, British Ambassador Duff Cooper, and they began a discreet affair that lasted until his death in 1953. When her first husband passed away in 1960 Susan Mary was courted by his college roommate, the famous and irascible columnist Joseph Alsop. A year later she married Alsop, knowing he was gay, and moved into his beautifully furnished Georgetown home with her two children, after nearly two decades in Paris.

It was the golden era of John F. Kennedy’s presidency and Susan Mary’s dinner parties were at the epicenter of political power and social arrival. Alsop’s house was the only private residence at which the new President John F. Kennedy stopped to celebrate on the night of his inauguration. She knew absolutely everyone and brought together the movers and shakers of not just the U.S., but the world.

A Georgetown icon, she reigned over Washington until the end of her life. This biography, the first ever of this complex woman, explores the facets of a brilliant life, delving into the cracks, shadows and secrets that made this charming beauty into a woman of depth and renown.

Caroline de Margerie is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration and holds an MA in English Literature. She worked as a diplomat and is now a member of the Conseil d'Etat, the highest administrative court in France. Her first book was Edmond Rostand ou le Baiser de la Gloire, a biography of the author of Cyrano de Bergerac. She lives in Paris, France.

Frances FitzGerald is a journalist and the author of several works of nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Fire in the Lake. She is also Susan Mary Alsop’s goddaughter.