The Riviera Set: Glitz, Glamour, and the Hidden World of High Society
Written by Mary S. Lovell
Narrated by Jill Rolls
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
At the heart of dynamic group was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château and brought together the likes of Noel Coward, the Aga Khan, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and two very saucy courtesans, Doris Castlerosse and Daisy Fellowes, who set out to be dangerous distractions to Winston Churchill as he worked on his journalism and biographies during his "wilderness years" in the thirties. After the War the story continued as the Château changed hands and Prince Aly Khan used it to entertain the Hollywood set, as well as launch his seduction of and eventual marriage to Rita Hayworth.
Bringing a bygone era back to life, Mary Lovell cements her spot as one of our top social historians in this captivating and evocative new book.
Mary S. Lovell
Mary S. Lovell began writing in 1980 after a broken back forced her to take a sabbatical from a successful business career. Her first major biography was the international bestseller ‘Straight on till Morning’, a life of the intrepid aviatrix Beryl Markham. Since then she has built upon her reputation with a succession of acclaimed biographies, the research for which involved travel all over the world. She lives in Gloucestershire.
Related to The Riviera Set
Related audiobooks
Dead End Gene Pool: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chanel's Riviera: Glamour, Decadence, and Survival in Peace and War, 1930-1944 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Diamonds: The Downfall of an Aristocratic Dynasty and the Fifty Years That Changed England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mountbattens: The Lives and Loves of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Marry an English Lord Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House, 1918-1939 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scandalous Lady W: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal and Divorce Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Charmed Life: The Phenomenal World of Philip Sassoon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Story of the Country House: A History of Places and People Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate Became an American Icon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wait for Me!: Memoirs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glitter and the Gold: The American Duchess---In Her Own Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Malice in Wonderland: My Adventures in the World of Cecil Beaton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Wallis Simpson: A New History of the American Divorcee who became the Duchess of Windsor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Society's Queen: The Life of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tales from the Back Row: An Outsider's View from Inside the Fashion Industry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Glitters: Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, and the Rivalry Inside America's Richest Media Empire Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Bess: An Unauthorized Biography of Bess Myerson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Entertainers and the Rich & Famous For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Paris: The Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Open Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here We Go Again: My Life In Television Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whiskey in a Teacup Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside Out: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If You Would Have Told Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scrappy Little Nobody Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Black Unicorn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Drain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Riviera Set
29 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5disappointed. people weren't that interesting.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is kind of a book of two halves: we begin with a biography of American actress-turned-socialite Maxine Elliott, whose career took an upward trajectory from theatrical success, through canny investments and cultivation of the Right People, so that she ultimately established quite a salon in her Riviera villa. Many great names flit in and out...Royals, politicians Bright Young Things aplenty.Then came the War, everyone went home...and the house was ultimately acquired and renovated by playboy Aly Khan and a new set of visitors.Well researched, made me think more of a newspaper article than a book I could hugely get into, as characters come and go (perhaps Winston Churchill was the only one to figure cthroughout.) By and large an over-indulged, shallow, loose-living bunch. Quite interesting. For all the fabulous luxury, I think I'd have been awfully bored by most of the inmates