That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

3.25 of 5 stars 3.25 · rating details · 1,276 ratings · 286 reviews

This will be the first serious yet sympathetic book by a female biographer to explain the story of how an American divorcee became a hate figure for allegedly ensnaring a British King from his throne. It focuses on the core conflict of her life in the 1930s, with particular reference to her impoverished American childhood as a motivation for her ambition.

Hardcover, 344 pages

Published October 1st 2011 by George Weidenfeld & Nicholson (first published January 1st 2011)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

Anticipated Books of 2012

185th out of 487 books — 1,048 voters

Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

Oh, Royalty...

30th out of 177 books — 16 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 09, 2013 False Millennium rated it 2 of 5 stars

I only read this book, because I have read everything on the Dooch. There are some documents that have released since the publication of the last batch of books (some from the Queen Mother's correspondence,) but basically they don't reveal anything new: just reinforcements of what is known in terms of her Dominatrix personality with the Duke, her charm with men, her greed, the shallow life. I get tired of guesses about her sexuality or her possible skills picked up in some shoo shoo house in Sha...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 05, 2013 Simon rated it 1 of 5 stars

Completely meretricious, and I mean completely. She does nothing at all with the new material, Wallis' continuing correspondence with Ernest Simpson until his death, and the reader is forced to endure what can only be described as the cesspool of the author's mind. The Duchess of Windsor wasn't the nicest woman in the world, but I have read biographies of Hitler that displayed more empathy for their subject. Sebba would undoubtedly claim that she is trying to understand the woman, but when you d...more

4 likes · like · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Sidna Bookout rated it 3 of 5 stars

Another book for a book discussion that I probably would never have chosen to read on my own. Mrs. Simpson and the Duke were both strange characters who deserved each other. Edward apparently was popular in England for the few months he was King, but he didn't seem to have much vision for long-term solutions for the probelms his country faced. It seems that England was probably better off with his brother, followed by Queen Elizabeth.

The book was o.k. and Sebba is a good writer, but I always won...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 13, 2012 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, biography

I've always been interested to know more behind the story of Edward and Wallis. I heard on a podcast that Anne Sebba had access to some letters that were previously unreleased so I chose her book for my education.

The first third of the book focuses on Wallis' childhood and live before Edward. This section was all new information for me and I found it well paced and entertaining. Wallis' mother had many struggles which helped to shape Wallis' feelings towards money and security. However, Sebba m...more I've always been interested to know more behind the story of Edward and Wallis. I heard on a podcast that Anne Sebba had access to some letters that were previously unreleased so I chose her book for my education.

The first third of the book focuses on Wallis' childhood and live before Edward. This section was all new information for me and I found it well paced and entertaining. Wallis' mother had many struggles which helped to shape Wallis' feelings towards money and security. However, Sebba makes some claims about Wallis having a Disorder of Sexual Development (with a theory that Wallis could be a semi-hermaphrodite) that seemed wildly unsubstantiated. Her theory was based on the tiniest supposition but she follows it throughout the book to say "If she did have DSD then that would explain this..." While I suppose this theory is certainly possible, there was so little evidence to back it up that every time it was raised I felt that she was cheapening her position.

Anyway, I ignored those bits and moved on to the introduction of Edward. It's impossible not to get sucked into the story of this boy/man who never wanted to be king, struggling with his destiny. After reading about his early statements about not wanting the position I had to wonder if he would have latched on to any excuse to abdicate and Wallis seemed as good as any. But Sebba's book definitely paints a picture of a man obsessed. And her letters to her ex-husband, Ernest Simpson, show that she did not share Edward's obsession but chose her path with some regret. But once they have chosen their paths, Sebba's story starts to falter. This becomes the most laborious section of the book - Sebba drags Edward's abdication and aftermath on until I was sick of them both and wanted to cheer when his family snubs them. Go to the Bahamas and be quiet!!

Clearly Sebba dragged this on because that was all she had - the book ends rather suddenly with their deaths and not a lot of information about the last 20 years of Edward's life.

So was this the right pick for my WE education? Probably not but I was glad to read a book that didn't romanticize or turn them into victims. They are two imperfect people who made decisions that may not have made for a great life, but makes for a good story.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 15, 2012 Judith rated it 1 of 5 stars

OMG! Was the editor drugged or just sleeping on the job. This has got to be the most boring biography I have ever read. It reminds me of getting stuck in a corner with a person at a party who keeps digressing from one boring story to the next and never making any point but just rambling on.

Worse, the author makes wild suppositions about Wallis' possible DSD or hermaphroditism while making it clear that there has never been any proof of either. She goes on to explain that "IF" these suppositions...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2012 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is not really a page turner. There is alot of just "information" to digest. Dates, times, people and places. Many documents both official and personal are referenced , some of which were not released until 2002 upon the death of the Queen Mother. However, I found all this just fascinating. It is amazing, almost beyond belief, that one woman- who was not particularly smart, or beautiful or well born, totally captivated and possessed the man who became King of England . Even more amazing...more

like · see review

Jul 10, 2012 Jennifer Steil rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was interesting to me, as I am currently living in London and need as many British history lessons as I can get. But I found the writing fairly pedestrian. Also, it was curious to me that the author says she feels Wallis has been unfairly portrayed as a horrid woman throughout history, so she wants to right this by granting her a fair portrayal. Yet one comes away from this book with a fairly black picture of Wallis. The author makes it pretty much impossible to like her. I also found...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 26, 2012 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thoroughly enjoyed this, but I think it had more to do with the woman it was about then the book itself. Wallis Simpson led a fascinating life, regardless of what you think of her, and for an Anglophile like me, it's loads of fun getting all the juicy details. The book also covers her whole life, not just her marriage to the Duke of Windsor, and makes you seriously question how much of a "love story for the ages" their marriage really was. The Duke comes off quite badly, a petulant stalker who...more

2 likes · like · see review

May 22, 2012 Socraticgadfly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, history

Interesting, thought-provoking, and perhaps a bit envelope-pushing on the psychologizing. It is, overall, a "sympathetic" bio of both Dutchess of Windsor Wallis Warfield Simpson, and to the degree he is covered, the Duke, the former Edward VIII.

Sebba is by no means the first or only person to note the "mannish" appearance of Wallis. She speculates this was from in utero, an androgen sensitivity disorder. She speculates that Edward, who reportedly had very little body hair, may have had some sexu...more Interesting, thought-provoking, and perhaps a bit envelope-pushing on the psychologizing. It is, overall, a "sympathetic" bio of both Dutchess of Windsor Wallis Warfield Simpson, and to the degree he is covered, the Duke, the former Edward VIII.

Sebba is by no means the first or only person to note the "mannish" appearance of Wallis. She speculates this was from in utero, an androgen sensitivity disorder. She speculates that Edward, who reportedly had very little body hair, may have had some sexual identity issues, too, as well as the emotional neglect he appears to have suffered from his parents.

From there, Sebba says that perhaps both had adult sexuality issues that led them to feel, in their own ways, sympatico with each other.

That is all the "speculative" part. It may well be true, but there's no way of knowing for sure.

Otherwise, Sebba doesn't totally reveal whether she thought Wallis was treated shabbily by the rest of the royal family, but leans that way. She also seems to indicate that the constitutional crisis could have been better handled by some parliamentary leaders who were "concerned" but not, at least at first, totally against the marriage. Interestingly, the idea of a morganatic marriage was floated to prime ministers of some of the dominions, who nixed it.

Otherwise, though, it appears the royals were in general petty and shabby, even if Wallis' brashness drew such reaction.

And, as for Princess Mary's complaint that her husband Albert (Bertie), who became George VI, was so unprepared for the throne? Sebba notes that more than once, well before meeting Wallis, Edward had hinted that he would some day advocate, and likely sooner rather than later. Also, George V said, not too long before his death, that he wouldn't be surprised if Edward bollixed everything up within 18 months, and if he abdicated.

Point? Mary, George VI and other royals had no business blaming Wallis for the abdication; it was likely to happen anyway. Indeed, Sebba shows that Wallis saw the likely denouement quicker and more clearly than Edward, and in fact, begged off, even as the divorce proceedings from husband No. 2 were in midstream.

So, even if you don't see eye-to-eye with Sebba's psychosexual speculations, this is still a good read otherwise.

And, it may have been an "interesting" form of love, but love of some sort it was.(less)

like · see review

Mar 30, 2012 Everyday eBook rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Deconstructing Wallis Simpson: Anne Sebba’s That Woman

In Anne Sebba’s That Woman, we get a revealing portrait of Wallis Simpson, the Southern woman who caused the abdication of King Edward VII and turned Britain upside down. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, as they were commonly known, have remained controversial figures long after their deaths, both for the abdication, as well as for the myriad of rumors that swirled around them suggesting Nazi sympathies. Sebba steers mostly clear of the Nazi...more

like · see review

Mar 20, 2012 BonnieL rated it 1 of 5 stars

Possibly the worst purported biography written about the Duchess of Windsor. It seems to have been written solely as an excuse for the author to beguile readers with groundless and unproven speculation that the Duchess MAY have suffered from DSD (Disorder of Sexual Development), MAY have been an hermaphrodite (or semi-hermaphrodite), APPEARED to be masculine and had very large hands and, now hold your breath here, a diarist of the day actually wrote that she looked masculine. In that case, we'd...more Possibly the worst purported biography written about the Duchess of Windsor. It seems to have been written solely as an excuse for the author to beguile readers with groundless and unproven speculation that the Duchess MAY have suffered from DSD (Disorder of Sexual Development), MAY have been an hermaphrodite (or semi-hermaphrodite), APPEARED to be masculine and had very large hands and, now hold your breath here, a diarist of the day actually wrote that she looked masculine. In that case, we'd better have a long second and third look at many of today's women athletes who don't look cute, cuddly and baby-faced. Finally, after leading readers down this long path to nowhere, the author, on page 277, comes clean, writing that after the Duchess' death "there was no autopsy". Nothing like finally admitting that this has been pure speculation and innuendo designed only to sell books using a completely faulty and unprovable premise. And if we're going to talk about unfounded speculation and innuendo, let's not forget the author's theory that the Duchess learned some really nifty sexual techniques while living in China/Shanghai - or maybe she didn't because this is culled from speculation by others
With equal disregard for proof and evidence of any kind, the author then moves on to declare the former King Edward VIII was "autistic" or "mad". No conclusive proof, particularly since autism wasn't even diagnosed in the 1930s, but one should never let facts and proof get in the way of a really good theory, should one?
As for the rest of the "biography" - it's rather poorly written, has a breathless gossipy tone to it and flounders part way through when it appears that the author lost interest after having presented the DSD/hermaphrodite/autism theories. Once she finished detailing the wedding, she needed only 70 pages to offer up the rest of the Duke and Duchess' long lives - an uncritical glossing over of their Nazi connections, their scandal-riddled war years, their lives after the war, even skimming over the whole Jimmy Donahue episode. That, in particular, was so poorly written and presented that uninformed readers could be left wondering why that story was included at all. Yet it revealed so much about both Windsors.
There's a great biography about the Duchess of Windsor out there somewhere - but this isn't it. (less)

6 likes · like · see review

Feb 27, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

I have wanted to read a book about Wallis Simpson for quite some time so I picked this book up after watching the documentary during a trip to England. While a really enjoying read I found it difficult to accept some of the conjectures that Anne Sebba has made since there is no real evidence that backs them up except for remarks made by others who were not always fans of the couple.

The new evidence that drove this book to be published were letters that were discovered stating that Wallis Simpso...more

like · see review

Oct 23, 2011 Anastasia Fitzgerald-Beaumont rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wallis Simpson was guilty of four things: she was a woman, she was a commoner, she was a double-divorcee and she was an American. But, notwithstanding all these handicaps, she still managed to storm the House of Windsor. She shook the fusty old English establishment and she got her man, even when the man happened to be a king! The surprise here is even greater because there was something manly about this femme fatale.

I’ll come to this in a bit but first a word or two about a wholly compelling i...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jul 01, 2012 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-autobiography

Frankly, I was disappointed by this biography. If you have never read about Wallis Simpson before, this book may make a good-enough introduction. I've read about her all my life, though, and this book had no new information as well as a great deal of conjecture about hermaphrodism, substance abuse, and other un-verifiable claims the hungry press made about her during and after her life.

This bio had very odd pacing. About right for early years, then nearly half the book dealt with a sliver of ti...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 20, 2012 Kristine added it

That Woman: the Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba, a Kindle book I began reading on July 15th to keep up with the innaugural use of my replacement Kindle. I still haven't made quite a bond with it, but that might change as the summer goes on.

After hemming and hawing through Madonna's movie, W.E., I thought I'd pick up this book to have a better and more clear idea of who Wallis really is apart from, before, during, and after her relationship with the Prince of Wales/Edward...more

like · see review

May 06, 2012 Fiona Caldarevic rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Fiona by: Robyn

Shelves: 20th-century-history, biography

The more I read the more I disliked Wallis Simpson. Anne Sebba painted her as a woman only interested in two things - money and social status. For this she snared the King, and wasn't she lucky to find a King who was at her beck and call, and who gave it all up for her. (Although he seemed to have an awful lot of trouble actually giving it all up post-abdication; what a pain he was!).

I'm not sure if Wallis actually loved David. There was nothing in the book showing that she did, other than she s...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 16, 2012 Jules rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, cultural-icons, english-nostalgia, royal-lives, famous-ladies

I’ve never been precisely sure about how I feel about the British royal family. Of course, they benefit from my taxes but they also did away with many of their personal freedoms and general anonymity by their very birth right on entering this world. ‘Horses for courses’ – one might say in England.

I mention all this because, in essence, the life of Wallis (Warfield, Spencer, Simpson, WINDSOR) was locked away into royalty from her first involvement with Edward VIII. The exuberant American Wallis...more I’ve never been precisely sure about how I feel about the British royal family. Of course, they benefit from my taxes but they also did away with many of their personal freedoms and general anonymity by their very birth right on entering this world. ‘Horses for courses’ – one might say in England.

I mention all this because, in essence, the life of Wallis (Warfield, Spencer, Simpson, WINDSOR) was locked away into royalty from her first involvement with Edward VIII. The exuberant American Wallis rarely lived a life of freedom and joy despite her passion for world travel and material goods like expensive designer clothing and jewellery. After reading this I began to realise that her existence then was about as sad and nomadic as it came and I really began to like and empathise with her character of a trapped woman. I ultimately felt sorry for this ostracised lady.

I think Sebba does justice to the Wallis character throughout most of the biography and she paints a picture of a wife who is 'loyal to' yet not 'in love with' her husband. She also paints an image of a very stoical and cold royal family who repelled Edward and Wallis even further after the former’s abdication. The story of both Edward and Wallis is thus very sad and, as exiles from Great Britain and without official ‘roles’, both figures had little to do and a very aimless direction to their lives. This is especially sad when you consider how British royalty has changed and modernised somewhat with divorces and divorcees being fully accepted nowadays.

I found some of the biography quite heavy-going in reading terms and it was not a quick read at all although easy to follow. It is interspersed with lots of historical detail and background, particularly from the Thirties era to post-war Britain and Europe. What I didn’t expect though was to be left on a relative cliff-hanger where Sebba seems to stop her biographical narration around the mid-1950s following with a very quick mention of the Duke’s death in 1972 and a mere 12 pages covering Wallis’ remaining life thereafter. Ultimately, I would have hoped for more comment and analysis here to truly understand the older and reflective characters of Wallis and her husband more.

An interesting insight however and I am sure that this lady would have been better understood if not a little more 'loved' had she been born, lived and romanced by Edward a few decades later.

Recommended!(less)

like · see review

Jun 06, 2013 Jennifer Gelert rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you look at my list of books that I have already read, you will see I have a "thing" for British history especially when it comes to their royal families. I was browsing in the library and came across this book. Myself, along with others, have always wondered what did Wallis have that causes a king to give up his throne, his family, his life? So many books out there, so many speculations. This is the first book I actually read on the subject, except for brief comments in books on the Windsors...more

like · see review

Jan 27, 2013 Brittney Bramlett rated it 1 of 5 stars

Ok, where do I begin, I have a lot of opinions on this book....

I can't decide if I hate this woman's life or I just didn't like Sebba's interpretation of her life. I started this book not knowing much about Wallis Simpson, besides the fact that she was the American woman who Queen Elizabeth's uncle left the throne for. That, and she was bought many animal shaped jewels of her time that went on tour and were gushed over by Kathy Lee Gifford. AKA, I didn't know much.

This woman's rise to 'power' is...more

like · see review

Sep 30, 2012 Rose Neild rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is quite a well written biography in that it is well referenced and appears to give some balance to the Duchess of Windsor's story. It acknowledges her frailties and shortcomings as well as her strengths. It is apparent that while I can't imagine being friends with this lady (her circle and likes and needs being so different to my own) I can certainly see how she ended up in difficult circumstances and always must have felt (from earliest life) that she had to fight hard for anything she wo...more

like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I would give this book five stars, if not for the fact that the prose is exceedingly dry. Wallis Simpson and the former King Edward VIII have interested me for some time, ever since I saw The King's Speech last year. I'd a rudamentary knowledge about the couple from reading history books, but there was something about them that made me want to know more.

Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor is typically portrayed as a villaness, since she was the one who made Edward VIII give up the throne. An...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 12, 2012 Kate Lawrence rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

The story of Wallis Simpson and her relationship with Edward, the king who gave up his throne to marry her, continues to fascinate, 75 years after they were married. The author gives us the facts and the speculation, being careful to distinguish between them. Even after looking at all the documentation, including some new material, Sebba admits no one can "explain the inexplicable:" how a middle-aged woman who was not beautiful and who repeatedly humiliated Edward in front of their friends, was...more

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 30, 2012 Alecia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Because this is such an enduring love story/tragedy, this biography is pretty good just by virtue of it's subject matter. I agree with some of the reviewers that the author brings up some issues with no proof to back her theories up. She bandies around various rumours such as the one that the Duchess (Wallis Simpson) had a sexual disorder, and was possibly a hermaphrodite. She also perpetuates the story I have heard before that Wallis learned some exotic sexual techniques in China, and that is p...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 20, 2012 Jillian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographies-autobiographies-memoirs

I was totally entertained by this but at the end all I thought was, "Be careful what you wish for." I blame this on the fact that it's now 12:45 A.M. Instead of poorly repeating what another has written, I copied and pasted it. This sums up my thoughts as well-------

"I thoroughly enjoyed this, but I think it had more to do with the woman it was about then the book itself. Wallis Simpson led a fascinating life, regardless of what you think of her, and for an Anglophile like me, it's loads of fun...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 25, 2012 Zazzu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books

Very fascinating book. By the end of it I did feel quite a lot more sympathy for "that woman" than before. I think the whole affair with Edward got out of her control, and that he wasn't really fit in some way to be king. The author speculates about Aspergers--he was clever when it suited him but had little sense of responsability and some very obsessive tendencies. She honestly did suffer from society's rejection after her marriage to Edward.

Wallis however must bear blame. I think she liked bei...more

like · see review

Jun 12, 2012 Susie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir-biography

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Mar 10, 2012 Dorothy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

An easy, breezy read that provided context and background for this fascinating story. The story of Wallis' childhood, upbringing and her relationship with Edward through to thr abdication was reasonably thorough and informative. That said, there was a certain amount of name dropping that was problematic. Key players in the lives of Wallis, Edward and the royal family were not as well defined as I would have liked. Following the abdication in 1936 and the war years, the writing sped up with littl...more

like · see review

Apr 30, 2012 Gina Dalfonzo rated it 2 of 5 stars

An interesting but flawed book about a very flawed woman. Sebba presents a lot of intriguing facts and theories. But we never really get a sense of what drove Wallis. There are mentions of her insecurities and her fears, but it's still very hard to understand from this account just why she went ahead with the marriage to Edward. We're told again and again that she didn't want it and she wanted to extricate herself, so why didn't she? It doesn't help that Sebba thinks Wallis has received too much...more

like · see review

Mar 20, 2012 Catherine rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I ignored the customer reviews and bought the book because although I was aware of Wallis Simpson, I didn’t know that much about her and thought her story would be interesting.

I only made it through a bit over half of the book before I gave up. I couldn’t read another sentence! The book suffers from poor editing, but even with a good editor I don’t know how you could turn Sebba’s self-indulgent writing into anything other than overly wordy conjectures. I kept losing my place, getting confused be...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 24, 2012 Christine Rebbert rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first 100 or so pages were very difficult to get through, and I thought I was going to wind up putting this on my "can't-bring-myself-to-finish" list. It didn't help that the author -- a Brit -- had some obvious errors among her background facts. She cites Oldfields, the school attended by the young Wallis, as being located in "Glencoe County, Maryland" -- which doesn't exist. Glencoe is a community,not a county; Oldfields is in Baltimore County. Okay; so maybe only a Marylander would have g...more The first 100 or so pages were very difficult to get through, and I thought I was going to wind up putting this on my "can't-bring-myself-to-finish" list. It didn't help that the author -- a Brit -- had some obvious errors among her background facts. She cites Oldfields, the school attended by the young Wallis, as being located in "Glencoe County, Maryland" -- which doesn't exist. Glencoe is a community,not a county; Oldfields is in Baltimore County. Okay; so maybe only a Marylander would have gotten that error. However, in detailing the forbears of Wallis's life-time friend, Mary Kirk, Sebba references Samuel Kirk -- "the oldest silversmiths in the U.S., established in 1817". Even an elementary-school American can tell you about "the midnight ride of Paul Revere" and that he was a silversmith in the 1700's; maybe even he wasn't the first silversmith in the U.S., but it certainly wasn't Samuel Kirk... AND, there are 3 sections of photographs in the book, but in the 3rd section, there are some of the identical photos and captions that are in the 2nd section, so I felt we kind of got cheated out of some pictures... Does nobody at the publisher check these kinds of things??

Apart from the errors, there also seemed to be a lot of extreme jumping-to-conclusions when talking about the earlier lives of Wallis and Edward. She was a hermaphrodite! He was on the Autism spectrum! I don't think this kind of psycho-sexual, psycho-social analysis is necessarily what folks are looking for in a biography; as Sgt. Friday used to say, "Just the facts, ma'am..." (and to get that reference, you not only have to be American, but OLD as well!)

But once we got past all that and settled more into the story of "WE", I did get to enjoying the book more. I've seen the Masterpiece Theater version, and I've read other stuff on them in the past, and this may have added a little to the body of knowledge, particularly about in the post-abdication, post-marriage time-frames. But still, there was a lot of years that seemed to be missing, post-marriage -- kind of like, "they got married, couldn't move back to England, and then he died... and then she died"; that's it. Still, you can't deny that it's a compelling story -- note I didn't say "love story", because that seems to actually be very much in question, on her side, at least... I would have liked to have seen more of her life once he'd passed, etc., other than she continued to dye her hair black till the end...

In the last chapter -- or maybe it was an afterword -- some other books about them were referenced, and I actually have a couple of them now on reserve at our library, to see if I can learn even more about these interesting characters. I do live in the Baltimore area, and will also probably visit her Biddle Street home and go see the statue in Mt Vernon Park of the man for whom she was named. (less)

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (13)

More editions...

Genres

Biography

92 users

Non Fiction

53 users

History

33 users

European Literature > British Literature

10 users

Book Club

7 users

Biography Memoir

6 users

Autobiography > Memoir

2 users

Biography > Autobiography

2 users

History > American History

2 users

Literature > American

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Anne Sebba

Anne Sebba is a biographer, lecturer, journalist and former Reuters foreign correspondent. She read History at Kings College, London University and her first job was at the BBC World Services in the Arabic Department. She has written eight books, several short stories and introductions to reprinted novels. She has presented documentaries on BBC R3 and BBC R4, is a member of the Society of Authors...more

More about Anne Sebba...

Books by Anne Sebba

American Jennie: The Remarkable Life of Lady Randolph Churchill

The Exiled Collector: William Bankes and the Making of an English Country House

Battling For News: The Rise Of The Woman Reporter

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About That Woman: The L...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor
avg rating	preview: That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor Goodreads rating: 3.25 (1276 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10866215-that-woman?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330066232l/10866215.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10866215-that-woman?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba[/url]

That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website