a sad tale of fortune.

Bill Dedman and Paul Clarck Newell, Jr.'s Empty Mansions, the story of Huguette Clark, heir to an enormous fortune and mistress of several empty mansions, who after her mother's death, withdrew from the world and descended into an unhealthy existence, locked away in her darkened apartment is honestly kind of invasive. OR well-researched, whatever side you'd like to choose. With over 400 pages, these authors crossed all of their t's and dotted every i regarding Huguette Clark's life, and somehow made it interesting which was pretty difficult considering this is a woman who spent years only communicating through letters or the telephone, shunned the limelight and preferred to be alone. I did particularly enjoy the section dedicated to Huguette Clark's father, W.A. Clark, a self-made billionaire-equivalent of the 1800's who's first investment was eggs for eggnog, eventually making his real fortune in copper. There could be a book written on him alone. But since Huguette is more relevant in our world today, seeing as she only died several years ago, the authors did a great job making this book about her.