Read by Francesca Waters

In The Women of Rothschild, Natalie Livingstone reveals the role of women in shaping the legacy of the famous Rothschild dynasty, synonymous with wealth and power. From the East End of London to the Eastern seaboard of the United States, from Spitalfields to Scottish castles, from Bletchley Park to Buchenwald, and from the Vatican to Palestine, Natalie Livingstone follows the extraordinary lives of the Rothschild women from the dawn of the nineteenth century to the early years of the twenty-first. As Jews in a Christian society and women in a deeply patriarchal family, they were outsiders. Excluded from the family bank, they forged their own distinct dynasty of daughters and nieces, mothers and aunts. They became influential hostesses and talented diplomats, choreographing electoral campaigns, advising prime ministers, advocating for social reform, and trading on the stock exchange. Misfits and conformists, conservatives and idealists, performers and introverts, they mixed with everyone from Queen Victoria to Chaim Weizmann, Rossini to Isaiah Berlin, and the Duke of Wellington to Alec Guinness, as well as with amphetamine-dealers, suffragists and avant-garde artists. Rothschild women helped bring down ghetto walls in early nineteenth-century Frankfurt, inspired some of the most remarkable cultural movements of the Victorian period, and in the mid-twentieth century burst into America, where they patronized Thelonious Monk and drag-raced through Manhattan with Miles Davis. Absorbing and compulsive, The Women of Rothschild gives voice to the complicated, privileged, and gifted women whose vision and tenacity shaped history. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press. Natalie Livingstone was born and raised in London. She graduated with a first class degree in history from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1998. She began her career as a feature writer at the Daily Express and now contributes to Tatler, Harper's Bazaar, US Vogue, Elle, The Times and The Mail on Sunday. Natalie lives in London with her husband and three children. She is the author of The Mistresses of Cliveden and The Women of Rothschild. Contents Family Tree Introduction PART I Gutle, Hannah, Henriette 1. The Mother of the Business 2. 'Merely a Machine' 3. Inventing the Family 4. The Husband Hunt 5. Madame Montefiore 6. A Healthier Climate 7. Concordia, Integritas, Industria 8. Betrayal 9. The Financial Prowess of Mrs Rothschild 10. A Wedding and a Funeral PART II Charlotte, Hannah Mayer, Louisa 11. 'This World of Fog and Cares' 12. Marrying Out 13. Marrying In 14. 'The Management of Infancy' 15. A Muse 16. 'Surely We Do Not Deserve So Much Hatred' 17. The Great Abyss 18. Loopholes and Legacies 19. Living in Hotels 20. A Mother's Lesson PART III Constance, Emma, Hannah, Blanche 21. Flirtations 22. Heirs and Graces 23. The Rose and the Lion 24. Maiden Speeches 25. Blanche in Bohemia 26. The Royal Seal 27. Rescue and Prevention 28. Elevations 29. 'Big Guns Arrived during the Night' PART IV Rózsika, Dolly, Miriam, Nica, Rosie 30. Crossing the Border 31. Enlisting 32. Reconstruction 33. Vocations 34. Before the Bombs 35. Sisters in Arms 36. Echoes 37. The Baroness, the Bird and the Monk 38. The Queen of Fleas 39. Spare Rib and the Subversive Stitch 40. 'A Glorious Indian Summer' 41. Mothers and Daughters Acknowledgements Picture Credits Notes Index "Reads like an epic novel...impressively researched and beautifully written." -The Wall Street Journal "Commendable [and] well-researched." -The New York Times "Deeply researched...This is a rich history to dip in and out of-each generation of the tangled family tree provides Livingstone with fascinating women of wealth and influence who found important ways to defy the expectations of their e

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