A review by paris
Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies by Laura Thompson

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

Heiresses focusses on the dramatic, salacious, often traumatic lives of British and American heiresses through history, from the 17th century to the 1950s. Several heiresses, including American Jennie Jerome (Winston Churchill's mother), the Mitford sisters (politically fractious 1930s It Girls), and Barbara Hutton (Woolworths heiress who had seven husbands) are used as examples to show money doesn't necessarily lead to happiness. In fact, it often left these excessively wealthy women in gilded cages, trapped by their money and status. Thompson creates a fabulously immersive world to show the internal lives of these 'million dollar babies', and creates a space for readers to question if wealth really is worth it