VENICE, 1958. Peggy Guggenheim, heiress and now legendary art collector, sits in the sun at her white marble palazzo on the Grand Canal. Hers has been a thrilling, tragic, near-impossible journey. She has defied every expectation, followed her heart, and finally found contentment. She is independent. She is a true original. And she'll never stop believing in the transformative power of art.
Peggy is fourteen when her father dies on the Titanic and her cloistered life is turned upside down. The youngest daughter of two Jewish dynasties, Peggy is determined to pursue a life of passion and personal freedom. But unexpected restrictions come with her vast fortune.
As society changes and war sweeps through Europe, she navigates the decadent, sexist and anti-Semitic art worlds of New York and Paris. She loves and is loved - sometimes for herself, often for her money - yet no-one ever takes her intellect, talent or vision seriously. Until she learns to believe in it herself.
Rebecca Godfrey's final book - completed by her friend, the acclaimed bestseller Leslie Jamison, following Godfrey's death in 2022 - brings to life the singular woman who helped make the Guggenheim name synonymous with art and genius.
About the Author
Rebecca Godfrey (1967-2022) was an award-winning novelist and journalist. Her books include
The Torn Skirt, finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the award-winning true-crime story
Under the Bridge , adapted as a Hulu limited series starring Riley Keough as Rebecca Godfrey. Godfrey earned her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and taught writing at Columbia University. She lived with her husband and daughter in upstate New York.
Industry Reviews
Godfrey brilliantly resurrects the avant-garde adventurer Peggy Guggenheim as a feminist icon for our timesPeggy Guggeinheim embodied the twentieth century . . . Rebecca Godfrey's prose is as stylish as her protagonist and every bit as deeply sensuous, and thoughtful . . .
An unparalleled life presented as a page-turnerGodfrey does full justice to the rich eccentricity of the story but, more important, she does justice to Peggy herself by giving her a voice - one that is
intimate, urgent, imagistic . . . In this act of literary homage, Jamison has honoured Godfrey just as Godfrey has honoured Peggy - Financial Times
A
vivid portrait of a tumultuous 20th century life - Mail on Sunday
A
rich and rewarding summer read - Daily Telegraph
A
fascinating portrait of a woman who was wry and brave and determined to be different. It is the result of ten years' work from the novelist Rebecca Godfrey, who died before she could finish it. Her friend Leslie Jamison wrote the final part, and has done
a wonderful job of keeping the tone and flavour of the original going until the end - Sunday Times
