The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post: A Novel by Allison Pataki
“How did I not know about this woman? How did I not study her in History?” That was author Allison Pataki‘s first response to visiting the Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC, the last home of the cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post.
Filled with art and treasures from Post’s time overseas in Russia, gorgeous antique furniture and sumptuously turned-out rooms, the estate-turned-museum not only displayed objets d’art of wealth and taste, but provided Pataki a sense of Post’s influence as a person on the history of her time. “I compare her to Forrest Gump … because she was there in the front row shaping every moment in history that we know about, and yet we don’t know the role she played. But she had way better clothing,” Pataki adds, laughing.
A chance recommendation from a friend to check out the Hillwood Estate museum six years ago developed into Pataki’s obsession with a woman ahead of her time — one who took the helm of what became one of the largest packaged food companies in America; changed the way the nation stored food and prepared meals; traveled overseas during some of the most fraught times in European history; leveraged her wealth and influence for philanthropic causes; refused to be pigeonholed by society’s expectations of her; and fell in and out of love four times in a series of tumultuous marriages.
All of this comes to life in Pataki’s latest historical fiction novel, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post (Ballantine Books). In an interview with the Owl’s Brew Boozy Book Club, Pataki uncovers what she learned in researching the life of Post, spills the tea about those scandalous marriages, and reveals the challenges of novelizing a woman for whom so much source material exists, yet so little public awareness. Watch the video below, then check out our review of this fascinating book!
WATCH THE VIDEO
ABOUT THE BOOK
Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie Merriweather Post was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard — even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds. Marjorie had an insatiable drive to live and love and to give more than she got. As the heiress to the C.W. Post Cereal Company, she amassed millions, becoming the wealthiest woman in the United States before the age of 30.
Not content to stay in her prescribed roles of high-society wife, mother and hostess, Marjorie dared to demand more, making history in the process. From crawling through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar’s treasures to outrunning the Nazis in London, from serving the homeless of the Great Depression to entertaining Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Hollywood’s biggest stars, Marjorie Merriweather Post lived an epic life few could imagine.
Though full of beauty and grandeur, set in the palatial homes she built such as Mar-a-Lago, Marjorie’s life was equally marked by challenge and tumult. A wife four times over, Marjorie sought her happily-ever-after with the blue-blooded party boy who could not outrun his demons, the charismatic financier whose charm turned to betrayal, the international diplomat with a dark side, and the bon vivant whose shocking secrets would shake Marjorie and all of society. Marjorie did everything on a grand scale, especially when it came to love.
Bestselling and acclaimed author Allison Pataki has crafted an intimate portrait of a larger-than-life woman, a powerful story of one woman falling in love with her own voice and embracing her own power while shaping history in the process.
About Allison Pataki:
Allison Pataki is the New York Times bestselling author of The Traitor’s Wife, The Accidental Empress, Sisi, Where the Light Falls and The Queen’s Fortune, as well as the nonfiction memoir Beauty in the Broken Places and two children’s books, Nelly Takes New York and Poppy Takes Paris. Allison’s novels have been translated into more than 20 languages. A former news writer and producer, she has written for the New York Times, ABC News, HuffPost, USA Today, Fox News and other outlets. She has appeared on Today, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Good Day New York, Good Day Chicago and MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Allison graduated cum laude from Yale University, is a member of the Historical Novel Society, and lives in New York with her husband and family.
