An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew
Written by Annejet van der Zijl
Narrated by Teri Schnaubelt
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
A Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestseller.
Two-time Man Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel names An American Princess as one of her favorite books of the year: “light and gracefully written, it dances through a century of history…” (The Guardian)
Born to a pioneering family in Upstate New York in the late 1800s, Allene Tew was beautiful, impetuous, and frustrated by the confines of her small hometown. At eighteen, she met Tod Hostetter at a local dance, having no idea that the mercurial charmer she would impulsively wed was heir to one of the wealthiest families in America. But when he died twelve years later, Allene packed her bags for New York City. Never once did she look back.
From the vantage point of the American upper class, Allene embodied the tumultuous Gilded Age. Over the course of four more marriages, she weathered personal tragedies during World War I and the catastrophic financial reversals of the crash of 1929. From the castles and châteaus of Europe, she witnessed the Russian Revolution and became a princess. And from the hopes of a young girl from Jamestown, New York, Allene Tew would become the epitome of both a pursuer and survivor of the American Dream.
Annejet van der Zijl
Annejet van der Zijl is one of the best-known and most widely read literary nonfiction writers in the Netherlands. She has written biographies of Dutch children’s author Annie M. G. Schmidt; Prince Bernhard, the husband of former Dutch queen Juliana; and Gerard Heineken, founder of the famous beer empire; as well as other works. Her nonfiction has been awarded the M. J. Brusse Prize for the best work of journalism and has been nominated for the Golden Owl and the AKO Literary Prize. An American Princess spent more than fifteen weeks at the top of the national bestseller list in the Netherlands and was short-listed for the Libris History Prize. In 2012, she was awarded the Golden Quill for her entire oeuvre.
Related to An American Princess
Related audiobooks
The Astor Orphan: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Josephine: A Life of the Empress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glitter and the Gold: The American Duchess---In Her Own Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of Empire: My Life As a Mountbatten Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Duchess Countess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fortune's Many Houses: A Victorian Visionary, a Noble Scottish Family, and a Lost Inheritance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before Wallis: Edward VIII's Other Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bonfire of the Vanderbilts: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Wallis Simpson: A New History of the American Divorcee who became the Duchess of Windsor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Bess: An Unauthorized Biography of Bess Myerson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wait for Me!: Memoirs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Marry an English Lord Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Windsor Diaries: My Childhood with the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grace of Monaco: The True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackie's Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dead End Gene Pool: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Women's Biographies For You
Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Dream House: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uncultured: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stash: My Life in Hiding Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hello, Molly!: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Drain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Own It All: How to Stop Waiting for Change and Start Creating It. Because Your Life Belongs to You. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tell Me Everything: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Worthy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Class: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letter to My Rage: An Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wake Up With Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in my First Hundred Years Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Butts: A Backstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for An American Princess
36 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The characters were many & very well developed. The tale was a great story, but also an accurate account of history as it happened around the life of Alena. I loved it
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Accurately it is more of a 3.5 stars but rounded up to 4.
When i first got this book i thought it would a biography of the lovely American princess told from her point of view, however i was let down as this book is more properly described as a historical retelling of the people that surrounded her as well as the time period that she lived in.
There was little information regarding her story except from the what the author found out about her and her collection of letters.
Still it was a good short read and i would recommend it if you are interested in such settings. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent. This books reads like a real adventure. It left me wishing I could meet in ms Tew. An extraordinary woman presented in a moving way. Great read
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was crazy about this book wonderful educational interesting mesmerizing