The Husband Hunters

American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy

By: Anne de Courcy

Narrated by: Clare Corbett

The Husband Hunters is a deliciously told historical audiobook about the young, rich, American heiresses who married impoverished, British gentry at the turn of the 20th century - the real women who inspired Downton Abbey

Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage, bringing with them all the fabulous wealth, glamour, and sophistication of the Gilded Age.

Anne de Courcy sets the stories of these young women and their families in the context of their times. Based on extensive first-hand research, drawing on diaries, memoirs and letters, this richly entertaining group biography reveals what they thought of their new lives in England - and what England thought of them.

"Witty and well researched, Anne de Courcy brings to colorful, dramatic life these dollar princesses whose vast fortunes propelled them to glittering trans-Atlantic marriages that captivated international society." (Daisy Goodwin, New York Times best-selling author of American Heiress)

©2017 Anne de Courcy (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

“Downton Abbey fans will swoon over this trip through the privileged turn-of-the-century world of cash, class, and coronets." (Kirkus)

"[Narrator Clare Corbett's] lively performance and clear diction help listeners understand the complicated social rules underlying the splendor of the world's richest as they vied for the perfect spouse." (AudioFile Magazine)

Too busy

Struggled to stay up with the many names all going at once. Highlights, no story.

Could Have Been An Article

There was a lot of redundancy and filler here in what would have been a really interesting think piece.
Meanwhile, the one story that could have been an entire book - that of Tennessee Clafin and her sister - was kinda buried amidst all the other stories.

cash for coronets

By to today's standards of good taste and courtesy, the Guilded Age is appalling. so glad times have changed.

Gilded age

Enjoyed the husband hunters, moving up in society. Newly rich, not a member of the 400? Become the Parents of a Dutchess, countess, etc

New and Old Stories delightfully told

I'm a bit obsessed with real life stories of the Gilded Age Heiresses. So I was afraid to get this book afraid it was just going to be rehash, but while some of the stories will be very familiar to anyone in love with this era (such as Consuelo Vanderbilt and Jennie Jerome) there were plenty of new details and perspectives I had never heard before and they were all woven together in a delightful way. The narrator is excellent and does the America quotes very well.