Publisher's Weekly Review
Pulitzer PrizeA-A--winner Scott (A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother) mines her own rich and privileged family history in this insightful memoir. The descendant of generations of blue-blooded Main Line Philadelphians-Scott's grandmother is said to be the inspiration for the character of socialite Tracy Lord in Philip Barry's play The Philadelphia Story-Scott recounts the fun times of her life growing up in the 1960s ("We haul a five- or six- seater wooden toboggan from the garage, and [our father] arranges to meet a few beaglers, " who release the dogs to playfully race the children downhill), as well as the tough moments and the lives of her family members. Scott pulls no punches when revealing the vulnerabilities of her family, particularly her father, a longtime president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, who battled depression and whose excessive alcohol consumption led to his death in 2005 from complications of cirrhosis. She also provides a tantalizing glimpse into Main Line opulence via remembrances of life on her family's estate, Ardrossan, which once encompassed nearly 800 acres, had a working farm, and was visited by such notables as publishing magnate Walter Annenberg and Vogue photographer Horst P. Horst. Told without false modesty or overweening privilege, Scott's story is a well-paced narrative punctuated with lyrical prose. This is a fascinating glimpse into a rarefied world. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist explores her charming but mysterious father's life and family history.Jestingly called "the Duke of Villanova" by Scott (A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother, 2011) and her family, Robert Scott grew up the heir to a "middling American fortune" built by the author's grandfather. Yet Robert, who did not have access to the trusts that "went to the oldest generation," insisted on spending money he earnedfirst as a lawyer then, later, as president of the Philadelphia Museum of Arton maintaining a family mansion he did not own. Drawing on family letters and conversations, her father's journals, and her own vivid memories, the author probes the secrets of her family. As Scott chronicles, Robert's grandfather, who was reported to have died of illness during World War I, actually committed suicide out of fear of being publicly humiliated for "a bender involving a woman and booze." Robert's beautiful socialite mother, Helen, was the inspiration for the character Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story, and his literary-minded father, Edgar, consorted with members of the Algonquin Round Table before founding a Philadelphia stockbrokerage. But for all their glamour, Robert's parents remained a sadly "intermittent presence" in the life of a son who would later say that he had been "raised by Irish cooks and maids." Reading Robert's journalsdiscovered nearly a decade after his deaththe author discovered that her outwardly breezy father suffered a deep existential anguish that came out in his lifelong addiction to alcohol. The family story the author tells is fascinating for the painful personal legacies it uncovers. At the same time, it is also compelling for the parallels it draws between an earlier age of inequality and our own and the questions it raises about how contemporary stories of new-rich families "will play out, one hundred years hence."A heartfelt and rich narrative tapestry. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Journalist Scott, who profiled Barack Obama's mother in A Singular Woman (2011), looks to her own family for this memoir. Beginning with her great-grandparents on both sides, Scott takes the first half of her book to trace the history of her family's wealth, mostly evidenced in their living arrangements. The Ardrossan estate, built by Scott's father's grandfather and handed down to her grandmother Helen Hope Montgomery, included several residences as well as stables, a dairy farm, and a herd of sheep. Helen was a larger-than-life personality who could consistently be found in the society pages, and her son, Robert Montgomery Scott, is the focus of the book's second half. The author mines his diaries to understand a father she never really knew except as a socialite and alcoholic. It seems that not only could no amount of privilege, wealth, or lineage save him but these were the very things that led to his downfall. A compelling and detailed portrait of a time, place, and way of life that would be foreign for most readers.--Kathy Sexton Copyright 2019 Booklist
