That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor - Softcover

Sebba, Anne

3.43

4,524 ratings by Goodreads

9780297858973: That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0297858971 ISBN 13: 9780297858973

Publisher: W&N, 2011

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This will be the first serious yet sympathetic book by a female biographer to explain the story of how an American divorcee became a hate figure for allegedly ensnaring a British King from his throne. It focuses on the core conflict of her life in the 1930s, with particular reference to her impoverished American childhood as a motivation for her ambition.

'That woman', so called by her sister-in-law the new Queen Elizabeth, was born BessieWallis Warfield in 1896 in Baltimore, and she endured a childhood of relative obscurity which sharpened a burning desire to rise above her circumstances. To win in the game of life was her unequivocal aim.

'That woman' was not only one of the most talked about women of her generation. In death she has become one of the most written about and reviled. But she has also become a symbol of female empowerment as well as a style icon. And yet Wallis Simpson remains an enigma. A witty woman who lived on her wits. 'A woman can never be too rich or too thin' - one of her aphorisms - is all that some people know of her. Neither beautiful nor brilliant, both her assumed as well as her known moral transgressions add to her aura and dazzle. Accused of fascist sympathies and Nazi friends, she is an object of fascination that has increased with the years.

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Review:

Madonna's new film fictionalises the affair between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, while this Life tells the true story. (DAILY TELEGRAPH)

The publication of this intriguing reassessment of her [Simpson's] controversial life could not be more timely...an illuminating and absorbing read. (Katherine Whitbourn DAILY MAIL)

Commendably restrained ... Sebba's real coup is the discovery of letters between Wallis and Ernest, dated long after she had become involved with Edward. (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)

A well-rounded and often moving portrait (CAMBRIDGESHIRE JOURNAL)

Book Description:

The first serious yet sympathetic biography by a woman of the Duchess of Windsor, Mrs Simpson.

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