Vanitas

"When you wish upon a star..."

...your dreams come true? They did, at any rate, for Florinda Quenby, though not in the way she had planned. When she flew out to Hollywood to become a movie star, she could not imagine the terrible struggles ahead of her, from riches back to rags. Fame and wealth finally came from an entirely different quarter - her fantastical soup factory in Harlem, modelled on the Taj Mahal.

Florinda became one of New York's grandest hostesses and one of the America's most beloved celebrities. Her legendary Christmas parties in her huge, gold-lined apartment overlooking Central Park were an unmissable part of Manhattan's social calendar. The parties grew wilder and wilder every year, until she decided to throw one final party - to top all the others....

This is a tale of ambition and wealth and fame and vanity. This is Florinda's incredible story.

©2013 Matthew Waterhouse (P)2013 David Darlington