The Golden Hour, Beatriz Williams
The Golden Hour, Beatriz Williams
12 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

The Golden Hour
A Novel

Bestseller

Author: Beatriz Williams

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell, Saskia Maarleveld

Unabridged: 16 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 07/09/2019


Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives and A Certain Age creates a dazzling epic of World War II-era Nassau—a hotbed of spies, traitors, and the most infamous couple of the age, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The Bahamas, 1941. Newly-widowed Leonora “Lulu” Randolph arrives in Nassau to investigate the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine. After all, American readers have an insatiable appetite for news of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, that glamorous couple whose love affair nearly brought the British monarchy to its knees five years earlier. What more intriguing backdrop for their romance than a wartime Caribbean paradise, a colonial playground for kingpins of ill-gotten empires?Or so Lulu imagines. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess’s social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands’ political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward’s marriage lies an ugly—and even treasonous—reality. In fact, Windsor-era Nassau seethes with spies, financial swindles, and racial tension, and in the middle of it all stands Benedict Thorpe: a scientist of tremendous charm and murky national loyalties. Inevitably, the willful and wounded Lulu falls in love. Then Nassau’s wealthiest man is murdered in one of the most notorious cases of the century, and the resulting coverup reeks of royal privilege. Benedict Thorpe disappears without a trace, and Lulu embarks on a journey to London and beyond to unpick Thorpe’s complicated family history: a fateful love affair, a wartime tragedy, and a mother from whom all joy is stolen.The stories of two unforgettable women thread together in this extraordinary epic of espionage, sacrifice, human love, and human courage, set against a shocking true crime…and the rise and fall of a legendary royal couple. This audiobook includes an episode of the Book Club Girl Podcast, featuring an interview with Beatriz Williams about The Golden Hour.


About Beatriz Williams

Beatriz Williams is the bestselling author of over a dozen novels, including The Beach at Summerly, Our Woman in Moscow, and The Summer Wives, as well as four other novels cowritten with Lauren Willig and Karen White. A native of Seattle, she graduated from Stanford University and earned an MBA in finance from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tammy on November 10, 2019

Williams always writes solid commercial historical fiction and this is not an exception. It’s a bit slow to start and I became weary of “Believe me” and “Let me tell you” but mercifully those particular repetitions tapered off. Consisting of two timelines, one during WWI and the other during WWII, t......more

Goodreads review by Katie on September 10, 2019

3.5 stars I had read and enjoyed a book by this author awhile back and when I saw the gorgeous cover for this one, I immediately put it on my to be read list without even bothering to look at the synopsis. When I started reading this historical fiction book I was excited to learn Wallis Simpson and h......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on July 29, 2019

4 .5 Stars! The Golden Hour is my first Beatriz Williams read and it will not be my last. I've always been interested in her books, but for some reason or another I never took the plunge until now. The draw for me was the Duke and Duchess of Windsor being cast, along with the setting of the Bahamas d......more

Goodreads review by Deborah on October 22, 2019

4.5 stars. Leonora "Lulu" Randolph, a newly widowed and newly minted reporter for an American magazine, arrives in June 1941 to Nassau to write about the latest gossip of the Bahamian governor and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. On the plane she meets a mysterious Englishman, Benedict Tho......more

Goodreads review by WhiskeyintheJar on June 15, 2019

3.5 stars I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. “Was yours ever hit?” “No. Not a scratch. I suppose even bombs have a sense of irony.” “Not really,” I say. “That's just human illusion. We imagine there'......more