City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

The second Mrs. Astor, Shana Abé

eng

no index present

fiction

The second Mrs. Astor

Shana Abé

Madeleine Talmage Force is just 17 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 favourite target. On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace 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. 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 path

adult