Thank you William Morrow, #partner, for the finished copy of The Windsor Conspiracy in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio
Published: July 16, 2024
Summary:
Georgie Blalock, the acclaimed author of The Other Windsor Girl, delivers an enchantingly reimagined fictional portrait of Wallis Simpson through the lens of her cousin who is engaged to spy on the Duchess of Windsor for her alleged Nazi sympathies and finds much more than she bargained for!
American Amelia Montague defied her family five years ago to marry the man she loved, but that decision cost her everything. Disowned by her family, and left a penniless widow after her husband’s death, Amelia becomes her cousin Wallis Simpson’s private secretary in France. With no other prospects available, Amelia has no choice but to succeed, and under their Aunt Bessie’s direction, hopes to have a positive influence on Wallis and the Duke of Windsor.
During the next two years, Amelia realizes that not everything with the Windsors is glittering happiness. Beneath the façade of the besotted couple simmers Wallis’s rage at her stunted ambition, and the couple soon reveal themselves to be self-centered Nazi supporters who pursue their own interests at any cost.
When the Germans invade France, and the Windsors leave Amelia to escape the Gestapo on her own, Amelia finds herself in position to work for the most unlikely of employers: MI5 and the FBI. Convinced to work undercover, Amelia joins the Windsors in Nassau and soon realizes that Wallis’s treachery extends far deeper than the US and British government even knows…
Richly imaginative, Georgie Blalock’s novel stuns as it explores two women, opposites in every way, and the choices they make to survive both war and each other. . .
My thoughts:
I grabbed this one because not only am I obsessed with all things Royal, but I was intrigued by the fact this one was about Wallis…I haven’t read a lot about her and was desperate to do so. And this totally gave me just the look into her life I was after!
What I really appreciated is that this not only gives us insight into Wallis’s life before she married David, but also the years after. The story is told from the point of view of Wallis’s cousin, who is a fictional character, though an amalgamation of Wallis’s actual personal secretaries over the years. I love this blending of reality and fiction…you see it throughout the book and the detailed author’s note at the end of the book is definitely not to be missed for this exact reason!
This book was so deliciously scandalous and insightful. I applaud Blalock for not holding back on just the kind of person Wallis really was, for letting us see her true self.
Audio thoughts:
This was narrated by Ann Marie Gideon and she did an amazing job bringing the story to life.
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