Customer Reviews

Five Sisters: The Langhornes of Virginia

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have long held an interest in Nancy Astor and her somewhat less famous sisters, and here they all are in one book. I tried so hard to make this book last but I couldn't stop plowing right through. The Langhorne sisters lived a rarefied life, every one of them, to what most of us in the year 2000 could imagine. James Fox brought his grandmother, Phyllis Brand, and her sisters to life through their voluminous correspondence, saved by her husband. For all their wealth and privilege, they suffered some terrible tragedies and for the most part continued on. This book seems to be a true labor of love, and I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in a way of life that no longer exists.

This was a very interesting, annoying and heartfelt biography of the author's mother's family, the Langhornes of Virginia. A family impoverished by the Civil War that became the creme of society in the late 19th Century and continued through the 20th Century. The story centers on the five sisters, Lizzie, Irene, Nancy, Phyllis and Nora; each, who in their own way became celebrities in their own right.

There's Lizzie who was old enough to remember the mind-numbing and humiliating poverty brought by the Civil War. She is embittered by the younger siblings' treatment of her in adulthood. Irene's beauty is enshrined when she marries Dana Gibson and becomes the model for the Gibson girl. Phyllis struggles to end her unhappy marriage and eventually migrates to England. Nora, the youngest, the dreamer and wayward one, keeps the sisters' busy covering up scandal after scandal. Then there is Nancy. She becomes the most famous sister when she marries Waldorf Astor, one of the richest men in the world who possesses her children and everyone around her alike, often with disastrous results.

The author researched the book very well. I especially enjoyed the historical detail thrown in. I've read books on both WWI and WWII and never got the full gist of the events leading up to both wars. However, through the author's families eyewitness account and actual involvement at the highest level of political involvement, I got a better understanding of how and why Hitler came to power. The book's focus is on Nancy and Phyllis and does tend to lose track of the other sisters' doings; however, not enough to detract from the overall book. The book is definitely an eye-opener into the inner workings of a super-rich family that didn't seem to be happy despite their stupendous wealth. Worth a read.

This excellent biography takes an in-depth look at the famous, turn-of-the-century five Langhorne sisters of Virginia. The author is the grandson of one of the sisters, which gave him unprecedented access to some never-before-published letters and journals. Lizzie, Irene, and Nora take a back seat to highly visible Nancy (Lady Astor, first woman to serve in Parliament) and Phyllis, the author's grandmother. The author weaves historical and political background around the sisters' stories, which gives the book a pleasurable informational heft and weight.

They started out poor, as most Virginians were after the calamity of the Civil War. Eldest sister Lizzie was born in 1867, only two years after the war. Father, Chillie Langhorne, hit it big about twenty years later by entering into business with some Yankee railroaders. Then he was able to purchase the fabled Mirador, a perfect setting for his daughters. Chillie and mother Nemoire could have been stand-ins for Scarlett O'Hara's father and mother. Chillie was a hard-drinking charmer and a complete autocrat while Nemoire was almost saintly in her beauty and patience. They had eleven children, eight who lived, five girls and three boys. Two of the boys died young of a combination of hard drinking and tuberculosis.

Eldest Lizzie, who grew up poor and was already married living in genteel poverty in Richmond when Chillie hit it big, resented her sister's success all her life---but thought monetary gifts were her due. Irene was a true phenom, a bona fide celebrity, the last true Southern Belle who took the entire East Coast by storm with her breathtaking beauty. She married Charles Dana Gibson and was the prototype of the Gibson Girl. Irene may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she was kind (a rare trait among the Langhorne girls) and supportive all her life. Volatile, incredible Nancy who married and divorced a Boston millionaire, then married one of the richest men in the world, Waldorf Astor, almost single-handedly tore her family apart with her extreme possessiveness of both her sisters and children. Nancy looked like a beautiful, frail Edwardian lady with marvelously intense sapphire-colored eyes. Looks deceive. She was actually fiery, cruelly witty, and indomnible. Phyllis followed Nancy's footsteps marrying and divorcing an East Coast millionaire and remarrying famed British economist Robert Brand. Phyllis was soulful, the best woman rider in the country, and was a born martyr. My favorite was baby sister Nora, scatter-brained, scandalous, with a complete disregard for the truth fell in and out of love all her life. Men could not resist her. Nora's sisters had to bail her out over and over again, while Nora sincerely said she had made a "fresh start" every time. But Nora was a loving, generous person and a wonderful caring mother (her daughter was the actress Joyce Grenfell), and her nieces and nephews adored her.

"Five Sisters" is a fascinating read, well researched with an excellent index and bibliography. I recommend it highly.
-sweetmolly-Amazon reviewer

Too often, biographers attempt to do such a conscientious job describing their subjects that the books about those subjects end up being dull. And it should go without saying that those subjects, in real life, were anything but dull. Had they been less than interesting, no one would be tempted to write their stories and there would be no buyers for the finished biographies. Something like that has happened with FIVE SISTERS, the story of the famous Langhorne sisters of Virginia.

Author James Fox, who already has proved his skills as a writer in his other works, is well-assisted in this book due to the fact that he, himself, is the grandson of one of these Five Sisters. As such, he had access to family papers and correspondence unavailable in the public records.

The sisters were born into a prominent Southern family impoverished by the Civil War. The most famous sister, Nancy Astor, married the heir of William Waldorf Astor and became the first American woman elected to the English parliament. In a word, she was a character. Another sister, the most beautiful of the group, married artist Charles Dana Gibson. Very literally, as his model, she became the personification of the Edwardian concept of feminine beauty, the "Gibson Girl."

As described by James Fox, the women appear to be fairly typical in their sisterly concerns and rivalries. Nancy Astor sounds odd (to be kind) as well as nasty. And the book, FIVE SISTERS, somehow manages to be less than engaging. Nonetheless, Fox makes a serious contribution to detailing the social history of the lifestyle of the aristocracy in England at the turn of the 20th Century.

Throughout Five Sisters, I couldn't quite forget that the author is the grandson of one of the Langhorne women. Of course, if he hadn't been, he never would have had access to the letters he uses throughout the book - an absolutely priceless insight into what the sisters were actually thinking and saying to each other. But I kept my eye out for the 'bias' I was sure I would find yet that I never quite encountered.

While these letters form the basis of the book, it has obviously been meticulously researched and even includes the author's own memories of his family. The focus is mainly on two sisters with less attention paid to the others, and often only as they interact with Nancy and Phyllis. But Fox does a great job depicting the complexities of the women, especially Nancy, whose Christian Science religion, stubborness and type of humor make her a particularly difficult person to define.

This book is as much about the history of the time as the Langhorne sisters themselves. By marrying into various families - and with Nancy Langhorne, later Lady Astor as a member of Parliament - the sisters lives intersected with the most significant moments in the history of the time, whether the Treaty of Versaille or the negotiations leading up to Hitler's rise in power. For those expecting a traditional biography, this aspect might be offputting, but I think in order to understand the sisters one must get a sense of the time they lived in and the history in which they were intimately involved.

There's so much covered in this book that it isn't surprising that there does seem to be bits missing here and there. But the scope of what is there is very satisfying, very well written and really provided a sense of this amazing family and their lives. Those not interested in history beware, but for anyone else, I recommend Five Sisters highly.

This is a superb biography: well-written, intelligent, sympathetic without being indulgent or polemical, it illuminates a world of money, politics, culture and influence in America and England from the turn of the century through the second world war that few could have experienced first hand, but which nonetheless affected everyone. Particularly intriguing are the discussions -- includng, through correspondence, by the participants -- of the negotiations leading up the the Treaty of Versaille and the events surrounding the rise of Fascism and the beginning of the second World War. And of course, in the middle of all this, are the Langhorne sisters. Perhaps Fox's greatest achievement is depicting Nancy Astor -- his great aunt -- at both her best and worst, both thoroughly offensive and, yet, strangely likeable. The tragedy of her unbending personality forms the center of Fox's story, and his account of Christian Science and its influence, told through the experience of Langhorne-Astor, is both horrifying and fascinating. I didn't want this book to end and have given it to friends to read.

There are many reviews of this book posted and many emphasize the shallowness and unpleasantness of the sisters, especially Nancy. This is true; I think Mr. Fox presented these women honestly, warts and all, but I also think that many reviewers missed a very important point.
Lady Nancy Astor was the first woman to be elected to and sit in the House of Commons. She stood for the seat because her husband, Waldorf, having become a peer, could no longer sit in the House of Commons. She was not a good representative, having no real grasp of or even interest in the issues.
HOWEVER, and this is my point, each day she entered the House of Commons she performed an act of great courage. The male members (all the rest) viewed her presence in chambers as an aberrance of nature. This hostility was outright and overt and fell short only of physical violence. In one debate on venereal disease they used the most graphic pictures they could find in an attempt to drive her out of chambers.
Though she may have been motivated more by pride than by principle, she gave other women the courage to come after her. When Margaret Thatcher dedicated a placque in her honor some years ago she emphasized the courage it took Nancy (and still takes women today) to take a seat in the Commons.
Regardless of whatever else she was, she deserves the credit for her courage and the foundation she laid for the women that came after.

I began the book prepared to be dazzled by the fabled charm, wit and beauty of the legendary Langhorne sisters. I finished the book without finding an overabundance of any of these qualities. I can't say that I admired any of the sisters; my feelings ranged from indifference toward Irene, the original Gibson Girl, who was slightly dim, but decorative, to mild dislike for irresponsible and self-indulgent Nora, to real feelings of dislike for imperious Nancy, who married into the immense wealth of the Astor family.

I found Nancy to be particularly unpleasant -- selfish, domineering, self-important, tactless, rude and bigoted (quite anti-semitic, as were the other members of her family). Her often-expressed need to "do good", which presumably motivated her stint in Parliament, seemed more self-serving than altruistic to me -- an outlet for her ambition and a way to relieve her boredom with life at Cliveden, where there were servants to attend to her every wish.

In addition to being unable to appreciate their so-called "wit" and "charm", I did not find in the author's photographs much evidence of their storied beauty (with the exception of their mother, who was clearly exceptionally attractive). Either the photographs do not do them justice (which would be my guess)or standards of beauty have changed over the last 75 years. I actually found each of them to be rather ordinary-looking women.

In conclusion, this book seem to me to be about the supposedly glamorous lives of four (or five if you count Lizzie, the "dark horse" sister) inherently average women who find themselves raised through marriage to the highest social circles in Britain and America. Once there, priveleged and pampered, they did not seem to occupy themselves with much more than the pursuit of entertainment, the latest clothes and, in general, their own self-interest.

The epitome of the Southern Belle, Irene Langhorne, met Charles Gibson just after he had created the image of the new woman, the Gibson girl. They married in 1894, four years after the Gibson illustration had taken over fashion and held onto it. Belles had been the fashion for 20 years-- a symbol of the pure, noble, ultimate female overcoming the failures, ignominity and poverty of the aftermath of the Civil War rising into the phoenix image of the perfect lady. The Gibson girl was more independent, stronger, athletic, but still pure and feminine, an intelligent, talented portrait of femininity. The marriage of Irene to Gibson signaled the end of the Belle and the age of the new woman, a true turning point as the 20th century came into actuality as the age of greatest change for women. James Fox's depiction of the five Langhorne sisters reveals the fascinating lives of women coming to terms with the new century. Mr. Fox as a grandson of one of the sisters is in the unique position of having had access to family stories and thousands of letters. The sisters give us a picture of a remarkable time. Vivia Daniels Fort Worth, Texas

I enjoy biographies and this one reminds me of one I read some years ago about Winston Churchill's mother. This book is well-researched and well-written. This book does tend to get bogged down in historical details, but that personally does not bother me. The book focuses on Nancy and Phyllis, and loses track of Irene and Nora to some extent. This period in history is very interesting--the American Heiress invasion of England. This book had plenty of dialogue and lots of action, as these five sisters were always doing something interesting!