This book covers a wide range of heiresses, from the 18th century through to the 20th, and from both the U.K. and U.S. I hadn't previously encountered many of these women and I found the stories of their lives fascinating. Despite their wealth, these women did not have easy lives and struggled with finding partners, managing their inheritances, and finding their way in the world. They all were vulnerable, but the precise nature of that vulnerability changed over the centuries that this book covers. If you have an interest in women's history, I would highly recommend this book. ( )

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. ( )

“Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies” is a study of a number of women, from late 17th Century Britain to modern America, who inherited vast wealth, what they did with it and what it did to them. There were few such women until modern times, as inheritance laws generally favoured male offspring, but in the odd event that all other claimants died, sometimes only a daughter was left. Some of these women employed their millions in championing causes and doing good works; others spent themselves into anorexia, alcoholism and drug addiction; many were preyed upon by unscrupulous men, including several who were literally kidnapped and forced into marriages so that their kidnappers could avail themselves of her money. Not until the 20th Century did rich women have much in the way of legal protections to prevent such doings, and even then a lot of the women found themselves swept off their feet - in part at least, the author argues, because they never could tell if someone loved them for themselves or only for their money. The “poor little rich girl” is exemplified here especially by Betty Hutton (Woolworth heiress), but fortunately there are some counter balances to that stereotype such as Angela Burdett-Coutts, 19th Century heiress, friend of Charles Dickens and creator of numerous charity organizations and other works that directly aided the poor. The book is rather more heavily researched than I expected, a good thing, and there is quite a lot of editorial commentary from the author (largely about the treatment of women in general and specific attempts to legislate changes to that treatment), but it somehow still felt rather lightweight to me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book and learned quite a bit - it just seemed to me that the author could have written a magazine-length article about Betty Hutton and left it at that. Mildly recommended. ( )

Thank you to Goodreads.

I guess I'm not into heiresses? I wanted more about the heiresses of modern times not 1800s where it started. The introduction was as long as a chapter itself. I skimmed through the book trying to find "modern" ones and only saw Patty Hearst, and a few others I recognized.

Not the book for me I guess. I'm trying to read different types of books (including non-ficiton) that I usually don't read and thought this might be the one but guess not. ( ( )