Overview

Venice, 1958. Peggy Guggenheim, heiress and now legendary art collector, sits in the sun at her white marble palazzo on the Grand Canal. She's in a reflective mood, thinking back on her thrilling, tragic, nearly impossible journey from her sheltered, old-fashioned family in New York to here, iconoclast and independent woman. Rebecca Godfrey's Peggy is a blazingly fresh interpretation of a woman who defies every expectation to become an original. The daughter of two Jewish dynasties, Peggy finds her cloistered life turned upside down at fourteen, when her beloved father goes down with the Titanic. His death prompts Peggy to seek a life of passion and personal freedom, and, above all, to believe in the transformative power of art. We follow Peggy as she makes her way through the glamorous but sexist and antisemitic art worlds of New York and Europe and meet the numerous men who love her (and her money), while underestimating her intellect, talent, and vision. Throughout, Peggy must balance her loyalty to her family with her need to break free from their narrow, snobbish way of life and the unexpected restrictions that come with vast fortune. With intellect and style, Rebecca Godfrey, in her final book-completed by her friend, the acclaimed writer Leslie Jamison-brings to life a woman who helped make the Guggenheim name synonymous with art and genius, recasting her as, in the words of novelist Jenny Offill, 'a feminist icon for our times.'

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9781473605756

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Godfrey brilliantly resurrects the avant-garde adventurer Peggy Guggenheim as a feminist icon for our times -- Jenny Offill Peggy Guggeinheim embodied the twentieth century . . . Rebecca Godfrey's prose is as stylish as her protagonist and every bit as deeply sensuous, and thoughtful . . . An unparalleled life presented as a page-turner -- Gary Shteyngart Godfrey does full justice to the rich eccentricity of the story but, more important, she does justice to Peggy herself by giving her a voice - one that is intimate, urgent, imagistic . . . In this act of literary homage, Jamison has honoured Godfrey just as Godfrey has honoured Peggy. -- Michael Arditti * Financial Times * A fascinating portrait of a woman who was wry and brave and determined to be different. It is the result of ten years' work from the novelist Rebecca Godfrey, who died before she could finish it. Her friend Leslie Jamison wrote the final part, and has done a wonderful job of keeping the tone and flavour of the original going until the end. -- Sunday Times * Nick Rennison * A vivid portrait of a tumultuous 20th century life. -- Mail on Sunday * Anthony Cummins * A rich and rewarding summer read. -- Daily Mail * Erica Wagner * Proves that Peggy Guggenheim, the iconic, New York-born art collector, is deserving of a legacy beyond her curations. From Manhattan's upper echelons to a bohemian existence in Venice, the story emerges of a woman who carved out her own unrelentingly stylish path. * ELLE *

Godfrey brilliantly resurrects the avant-garde adventurer Peggy Guggenheim as a feminist icon for our times -- Jenny Offill

Author Information

Rebecca Godfrey (1967-2022) was an award-winning novelist and journalist. Her books include The Torn Skirt, finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the award-winning true-crime story Under the Bridge, adapted as a Hulu limited series starring Riley Keough as Rebecca Godfrey. Godfrey earned her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and taught writing at Columbia University. She lived with her husband and daughter in upstate New York.

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