The Second Mrs. Astor

Written by Shana Abé

Narrated by Lauren Ezzo

Madeleine Talmage Force is just seventeen when she attracts the attention of John Jacob "Jack" Astor. Madeleine is beautiful, intelligent, and solidly upper-class, but the Astors are in a league apart. Jack's mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York's most formidable socialite. Despite their twenty-nine-year age difference and the scandal of Jack's recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love-and becomes the press's favorite target.

On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace away from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time-and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner. When the ship hits an iceberg close to midnight on April 14th, there is no immediate panic. The swift, state-of-the-art RMS Titanic seems unsinkable. As Jack helps Madeleine into a lifeboat, he assures her that he'll see her soon in New York . . .

Four months later, at the Astors' Fifth Avenue mansion, a widowed Madeleine gives birth to their son. In the wake of the disaster, the press has elevated her to the status of virtuous, tragic heroine. But Madeleine's most important decision still lies ahead: whether to accept the role assigned to her or carve out her own remarkable path . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666115406

Shana Abé

Shana Abé is the award-winning, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of sixteen novels, including the Sweetest Dark Series and the Drákon Series.  She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California, and currently lives in the mountains of Colorado. Visit her online at ShanaAbe.com  

Reviews for The Second Mrs. Astor

[M. Bronzan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The author expertly wove facts into a vivid, illustrative atmosphere. Beautiful translation of a historic events that touched so many lives all at once.

[Marianne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I usually don’t read this type of book, but this was the one chosen for the book club. It was well written with a lot of detailed description. It is about the lives of the very rich and how they live, and a historical event that I don’t want to say, as to spoil the story.

[Karen K · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed this book very much. I liked the way it was written as a letter.

[Sara Nix · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The narrator of the story does so much in my opinion to encourage me to listen or to stop. The narrator had a lovely soft voice but while doing the narration part she stays in this very unnatural breathy heightened tone as if she’s narrating a dramatic event.
It’s very distracting as it is not the white people talk. I wish the narrators of stories would just speak in a normal voice rather than trying to change inflection to something that is unnatural in effort to create drama. I wound up having to stop listening to the story because I was so stuck on her unnatural loll.

[Ann G Miller-Sobel · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well known tale slow retelling. Sad story regardless the telling. Needs postscript about her life after