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That Woman

The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

The first full scale biography of Wallis Simpson to be written by a woman, exploring the mind of one of the most glamorous and reviled figures of the Twentieth Century, a character who played prominently in the blockbuster film The King's Speech.
This is the story of the American divorcee notorious for allegedly seducing a British king off his throne. "That woman," so called by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, was born Bessie Wallis Warfield in 1896 in Baltimore. Neither beautiful nor brilliant, she endured an impoverished childhood, which fostered in her a burning desire to rise above her circumstances.
Acclaimed biographer Anne Sebba offers an eye-opening account of one of the most talked about women of her generation. It explores the obsessive nature of Simpson's relationship with Prince Edward, the suggestion that she may have had a Disorder of Sexual Development, and new evidence showing she may never have wanted to marry Edward at all.
Since her death, Simpson has become a symbol of female empowerment as well as a style icon. But her psychology remains an enigma. Drawing from interviews and newly discovered letters, That Woman shines a light on this captivating and complex woman, an object of fascination that has only grown with the years.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      With a shrewd eye toward the spoils, Wallace Simpson, later the Duchess of Windsor, dedicated herself to years of hobnobbing and the occasional double-crossing of true friends to climb to the top of the social ladder. Samantha Bond is a regal-sounding British performer whose voice is strong enough to portray Wallace's deliberate escape from her drab days in the middle class. Bond portrays Wallace's strategies of enchanting businessmen, artists, dignitaries, and aristocrats while carelessly using many of those who cared for her. Elegantly, Bond describes details of Simpson's early life as well, her relationship with her parents and her marriages, affairs, and exotic rendezvous, capturing the essence of what made this complicated yet transparent woman tick. B.J.P. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 12, 2011
      “I hope to humanize rather than demonize” the woman for whose sake King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne, writes Sebba (Jennie Churchill: Winston’s American Mother) in this controversial biography that was a bestseller in Britain. The author, using interviews, previously unavailable letters, and media accounts, explores how Simpson, a spunky Southern belle, changed her life after two divorces and numerous love affairs on two continents, seized the heart of then prince of Wales, and weathered the wrath of the royals and the hostile British press. Two startling speculations concerning Simpson’s medical and psychological state attribute her sexual fierceness and flirtatiousness to a possible form of hermaphroditism and the need to emphasize her femininity. Sebba discloses the tremendous pressure from the royal family and high society on the new king to place English tradition above his bond to the American divorcée with her dubious background. Sebba details the life after the abdication, in which the duchess proved herself a resourceful survivor. This accomplished biography is smart, eloquent, and unafraid to go beyond the myth of the duchess of Windsor Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Associates (U.K.).

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Languages

  • English

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