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The Phantom of Fifth Avenue
- The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
Born in 1906, Huguette Clark grew up in her family's 121-room Beaux Arts mansion in New York and was one of the leading celebrities of her day. Her father, William Andrews Clark, was a copper magnate, the second richest man in America, and not above bribing his way into the Senate.
Huguette attended the coronation of King George V. And at 22, with a personal fortune of $50 million to her name, she married a Princeton man and childhood friend, William MacDonald Gower. Two-years later the couple divorced. After a series of failed romances, Huguette began to withdraw from society - first living with her mother in a kind of Grey Gardens isolation, then as a modern-day Miss Havisham, spending her days in a vast apartment overlooking Central Park, eating crackers and watching The Flintstones with only servants for company.
All her money and all her real estate could not protect her in her later life from being manipulated by shady hangers-on and hospitals that were only too happy to admit (and bill) a healthy woman. But what happened to Huguette that turned a vivacious, young socialite into a recluse? And what was her life like inside that gilded, copper cage?
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- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Annie Wauters
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler.
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Great story, terrible reader
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By: Mary S. Lovell
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The Bettencourt Affair
- The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris
- By: Tom Sancton
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Heiress to the nearly 40-billion-dollar L’Oréal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt was the world’s richest woman and the 14th wealthiest person. But her gilded life took a dark yet fascinating turn in the past decade. At 94, she was embroiled in what has been called the Bettencourt Affair, a scandal that dominated the headlines in France. Why? It’s a tangled web of hidden secrets, divided loyalties, frayed relationships, and fractured families, set in the most romantic city - and involving the most glamorous industry - in the world.
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A Juicy Chronicle
- By Jean on 10-24-17
By: Tom Sancton
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Franklin and Lucy
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- By: Joseph E. Persico
- Narrated by: Ted Barker
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably the greatest figure of the 20th century. While FDR's official circle was predominantly male, it was his relationships with women - particularly with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd - that most vividly bring to light the human being beneath this towering statesman.
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Franklin and Lucy
- By Connie's on 03-06-09
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The Curse of Beauty
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- By: James Bone
- Narrated by: Marianne Fraulo
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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As America was stepping into the modern era, one great beauty became the artist's model of choice. Her perfect form became the emblem of the Gilded Age and appears on the greatest monuments of New York and the nation. Supermodel, actress, icon - her beauty paved the way for a life of glamour, passion, and ultimately tragedy. Her name is Audrey Munson.
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Fascinating
- By Аmazon Customer on 04-06-17
By: James Bone
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The Diana Chronicles
- By: Tina Brown
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Diana Chronicles, you will meet a formidable female cast and understand as never before the society that shaped them: among them, Diana's sexually charged mother, her bad-girl sister-in-law, Fergie, and, most formidable of them all, her mother-in-law, the Queen. Add Camilla Parker-Bowles, the ultimate "other woman" into this combustible mix, and it's no wonder that Diana broke out of her royal cage into celebrity culture, where she found her own power and used it to devastating effect.
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One of the best Diana's
- By J F Whitmore on 08-02-12
By: Tina Brown
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The Palace Papers
- Inside the House of Windsor - the Truth and the Turmoil
- By: Tina Brown
- Narrated by: Tina Brown
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Tina Brown has been observing and chronicling the British monarchy for three decades, and her sweeping account is full of powerful revelations, newly reported details, and searing insight gleaned from remarkable access to royal insiders. Stylish, witty, and erudite, The Palace Papers will irrevocably change how the world perceives and understands the royal family.
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Audible narration is dreadful
- By M M. on 05-03-22
By: Tina Brown
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Zelda Fitzgerald
- The Tragic, Meticulously Researched Biography of the Jazz Age's High Priestess
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Zelda Fitzgerald was the mythical American Dream Girl of the Roaring Twenties who became, in the words of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, "the first American flapper." Their romance transformed a symbol of glamour and spectacle of the Jazz Age. When Zelda cracked up, not long after the stock market crash of 1929, Scott remained loyal to her through a nightmare of later breakdowns and final madness.
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The Beautiful and the Bungled
- By Silverthorne on 12-08-17
By: Sally Cline
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Lady Bird
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A revealing biography of Lady Bird Johnson with startling new insights into her marriage to Lyndon Baines Johnson and her unexpectedly strong impact on his presidency. Long obscured by her husband's shadow, Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson emerges in this first comprehensive biography as a figure of surprising influence and the centering force for LBJ, a man who suffered from extreme mood swings and desperately needed someone to help control his darker impulses.
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Do not waste an audible credit
- By Sandra B. on 10-15-23
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The Royals
- By: Kitty Kelley
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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They are the most chronicled family on the face of the globe. Their every move attracts headlines. Scores of books have tried and failed to penetrate the royal facade. Now Kitty Kelley has gone behind palace walls to provide the first three-dimensional, comprehensive, and evenhanded portrait of the men and women who make up the British Royal family.
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A titillating and delightful insight....
- By SIGHLE on 02-12-16
By: Kitty Kelley
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Fortune's Children
- The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
- By: Arthur T. Vanderbilt II
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
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Written by descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Fortune's Children traces the dramatic and amazingly colorful history of this great American family, from the rise of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt to the fall of his progeny - wild spendthrifts whose profligacy bankrupted a vast inheritance.
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The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
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Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter
- A Biography of Princess Louise
- By: Lucinda Hawksley
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
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The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been documented more by rumor and gossip than hard facts? When Lucinda Hawksley started to investigate, often thwarted by inexplicable secrecy, she discovered a fascinating woman, modern before her time, whose story has been shielded for years from public view.
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Incredibly Frustrating
- By JayOne on 01-16-20
By: Lucinda Hawksley
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What listeners say about The Phantom of Fifth Avenue
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- South African
- 11-23-22
Sad and revealing history
A very interesting dad and revealing history of a mysterious woman and the money grubbers who fought for their I’ll gotten gains
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- S.Ballantine
- 06-05-19
Mesmerizing Story
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed listening to this book. Due to the propensity of the subject to save all correspondence, paperwork of any and every kind and keep a journal, the story was filled with genuinely accurate details, both personal and historical. Given the volume of materials, the author did a masterful job of picking out the ones she used and did a beautiful job of weaving it all together. This I one of the most pleasurable "reads" I've ever experienced. The narrator was excellent and added greatly to that experience.
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- lisam5305
- 10-07-23
Did her wealth rob her of getting to have a life?
This book is a cautionary tale on just about every level and every stage of life. Listen and draw your own conclusions. It would have been great if pictures had been included but a simple online search provides plenty. Narration was excellent and easy to listen to. Book could have been a couple hours shorter without the repetitiveness and ample minutiae regarding side people who you will forget about as soon as you have finished the book.
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- Dennis
- 04-16-15
Great story
Intriguing story, I could listen to it again, hope they make a movie sometime soon, highly recommended to anyone interested in history.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Katheline A. Phelan
- 08-07-14
Well written biography
Where does The Phantom of Fifth Avenue rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Top 25%
What did you like best about this story?
That it is true
Which character – as performed by Bernadette Dunne – was your favorite?
Huguette Clark
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
No
Any additional comments?
I love biography and this was a very interesting one
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4 people found this helpful
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- Lynn Maudlin
- 05-13-21
Fascinating and Poignant
This is truly a remarkable story of a damaged woman and her uncommon life. I can't help but think what a disservice her father did when he told her no one would ever care for her, apart from her money. I wonder what she might have accomplished with less poison and fewer riches....
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- E. Mathur
- 08-01-14
Wow! What an interesting story!
What did you love best about The Phantom of Fifth Avenue?
Just learning about what it may have been like to be a wealthy socialite in the earlier part of the century. Its something that very few people could ever relate to. I found Hugette's like so interesting and of course at the same time so sad.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Hugette of course.
What about Bernadette Dunne’s performance did you like?
She read the book really well.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me think a lot about how quickly life goes by. Hugette wanted to live forever. It was a strange feeling in general at the end of the book.
Any additional comments?
There is another book about the same topic that I have thought about reading to compare notes. May be worth it:)
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gypsy
- 06-16-19
Well researched and interesting biography
This was a 2 for 1 purchase and I was reluctant to buy but glad I did. Interesting story and good narration.
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- Vance
- 08-07-23
Good hidden history
we get so many stories about heiresses from 1900 or are instagrammers, it was cool to hear a story about one from our time that wasn't a tramp. No spoilers but I think the way the story is bookended was unnecessary.
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- Pam
- 06-04-14
The Rich Are Different
This is the story of a wealthy heiress who shunned the spotlight and used her vast resources to maintain the illusions that kept her delicate psychology intact. The Clarks were the Kardashians of their day: famous for being famous, the minutiae of their lives scrutinized by the media. People are as interested to find out what happened to Huguette Clark as they would be if Kourtney or Kim Kardashian suddenly decided to hide from the public eye for decades.
I have three criticisms of the book: First, in an effort to connect far-flung events and explain why Huguette Clark became a recluse, the book suffers from too many time jumps that don't really add much to the story.
Second, the quotes from people who knew Huguette don't add much to the story, either. It's possible that, working from historical documents, the author didn't have much choice in regard to quotes. But even the people she interviewed in person come across as not having anything interesting to say.
Last, too much of the story focuses on the early life of Huguette's father, his first wife, and the children from that marriage. The book doesn't really find its stride until well over halfway through, when it begins to examine the forces in Huguette's young adult life that drove her to become a recluse.
In summary: this book had the opportunity to delve into Huguette's unusual psychology, and the psychology of recluses in general. There are hints throughout of psychological analyses, but no real focus on them. So, ultimately, the book left me disappointed.
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25 people found this helpful