Archie and Amelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age

Archie and Amelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age

Filled with glamour, mystery, and madness, Archie and AmÃ©lie is the true story chronicling a tumultuous love affair in the Gilded Age.

John Armstrong "Archie" Chanler was an heir to the Astor fortune, an eccentric, dashing, and handsome millionaire. AmÃ©lie Rives, Southern belle and the goddaughter of Robert E. Lee, was a daring author, a stunning temptress, and a woman ahead of her time.

Archie and AmÃ©lie seemed made for each otherâ€”both were passionate, intense, and driven by emotionâ€”but the very things that brought them together would soon tear them apart. Their marriage began with a â€œsecretâ€ wedding that found its way onto the front page of the New York Times, to the dismay of Archieâ€™s relatives and AmÃ©lieâ€™s many gentleman friends. To the world, the couple appeared charmed, rich, and famous; they moved in social circles that included Oscar Wilde, Teddy Roosevelt, and Stanford White. But although their love was undeniable, they tormented each other, and their private life was troubled from the start.

They were the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald of their dayâ€”a celebrated couple too dramatic and unconventional to lastâ€”but their tumultuous story has largely been forgotten. Now, Donna M. Lucey vividly brings to life these extraordinary lovers and their sweeping, tragic romance.

â€œIn the Virginia hunt country just outside of Charlottesville, where I live, the older people still tell stories of a strange couple who died some two generations ago. The stories involve ghosts, the mysterious burning of a church, a murder at a millionaireâ€™s house, a sensational lunacy trial, and a beautiful, scantily clad young woman prowling her gardens at night as if she were searching for something or someoneâ€”or trying to walk off the effects of the morphine that was deranging her. I was inclined to dismiss all of this as tall tales Virginians love to spin out; but when I looked into these yarns I found proof that they were true. . . .â€ â€”Donna M. Lucey on Archie and AmÃ©lie

Country	USA
Author	Donna M. Lucey
Binding	Paperback
EAN	9780307351456
Edition	1st
ISBN	0307351459
IsEligibleForTradeIn	1
Label	Broadway Books
Manufacturer	Broadway Books
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	360
PublicationDate	2007-06-26
Publisher	Broadway Books
ReleaseDate	2007-06-26
Studio	Broadway Books

Archie and Amelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age

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