When Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive … is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those managing her money?
Dedman has collaborated with Huguette Clark’s cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have frequent conversations with her. Dedman and Newell tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter, born into a family of extreme wealth and privilege, who secrets herself away from the outside world.
Huguette was the daughter of self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, nearly as rich as Rockefeller in his day, a controversial senator, railroad builder, and founder of Las Vegas. She grew up in the largest house in New York City, a remarkable dwelling with 121 rooms for a family of four. She owned paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls. But wanting more than treasures, she devoted her wealth to buying gifts for friends and strangers alike, to quietly pursuing her own work as an artist, and to guarding the privacy she valued above all else.
The Clark family story spans nearly all of American history in three generations, from a log cabin in Pennsylvania to mining camps in the Montana gold rush, from backdoor politics in Washington to a distress call from an elegant Fifth Avenue apartment. The same Huguette who was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11 held a ticket nine decades earlier for a first-class stateroom on the second voyage of the Titanic.
Empty Mansions reveals a complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette’s copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms.
Advance praise for Empty Mansions
“Empty Mansions is a dazzlement and a wonder. Bill Dedman and Paul Newell unravel a great character, Huguette Clark, a shy soul akin to Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird—if Boo’s father had been as rich as Rockefeller. This is an enchanting journey into the mysteries of the mind, a true-to-life exploration of strangeness and delight.”—Pat Conroy, author of The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son
“Empty Mansions is at once an engrossing portrait of a forgotten American heiress and a fascinating meditation on the crosswinds of extreme wealth. Hugely entertaining and well researched, Empty Mansions is a fabulous read.”—Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Fire
From the Hardcover edition.
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I was mesmerized by the life of Hughette Clark, who was raised in extreme wealth.
She lived to 104 years. It was a story of her shyness, of unscrupulous caregivers, lawyers and accountants.
It also revealed her true friends. She was very selective who she allowed into life, and the many she rejected. For me, it was a true page-turner!
It cleared up what I had been curious about.
I normally read nonfiction, but I took a chance on this book. So glad that I did. Very good read about a tragic women and her life and homes.
This was a fascinating read about millionaires and the life of an heiress.
I found the first part of the book interesting where and how the patriarch of the family accumulated his wealth. The second half was boring and dragged on. The daughter ended up with all that money But, because she thought people were after her for her money, she totally, totally wasted it. What a wasted life. What a waste of all that money. What a boring end to that book.
Fascinating look into a world we cannot begin to understand.
This was a wonderful biography of a spectacularly private heiress who lived for over 100 years. Her life is very interesting despite the fact that after a certain age she never went out, but she corresponded with and telephoned many people. One of the authors is a distant relative who spoke directly to her many times, but only over the phone. (As I understand it, the audiobook contains her voice.) She was also very generous to close friends and employees. What is wonderfully historic about the book is that Hugette was the daughter of an older man and his second wife. Her father was of an age to have fought in the Civil War so the overall story spans multiple generations and all the major events in the last 200 years. The heiress and her family actually had tickets for the Titanic’s second voyage which, of course, never took place, but that is just one of the fascinating tidbits found in the book. At the end of the book, you will be very mad, but not at Hugette or her incredible life. You will, however, want someone to pay for their actions.
The isolation & fears created by unbelievable wealth is a subject that provides fascinating subjects & brings out the worst in those hired to care for & help.
At times it got sort of caught up in detail, but overall, this book was very interesting. It makes you realize how the elderly could really be taken advantage of. Would recommend this for reading.
Enjoyed this historical book on the famous Clark Family. Tragic that one child/lady was left such a large inheritance to squander so mindlessly when there were so many ways to help children and organizations that could help those in need. She really might have been brilliant in some ways, but there was a definite need for an executor to help guide thru the later years of her life as I felt she really could not comprehend what she was giving away to her nurse and other friends she supported. Book was excellently researched and would recommend it to others.
Enlightening and very interesting.
Could not put this book down and can’t stop recommending to family and friends as an amazing look at the life of a woman whose life was touched by the Titanic to 9/11.
The man who created his own empire, W.A. Clark, is inspiring, he could turn everything he did into a success….he had much energy, and visions of what would be needed in the future, which he built on. So very interesting to read about ultra- rich people’s offspring who could be using their inherited money for good causes, yet continue to waste and waste throughout their lives, never accomplishing anything, and almost always living LONG lives, allowing other people to steal from and defraud them. Wonder what makes them tick.