Title:  The Thirteenth Husband
Author:  Greer Macallister       
Genre:  Historical fiction      
Rating:  4 out of 5

Based on a real woman from history, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets The Haunting of Hill House in this fictional tell-all narrated by the glamorous Aimee Crocker, revealing everything from her mischievous days in German finishing school to dinners with Hawaiian royalty to lavish Astor parties in Manhattan. But behind Aimee’s public notoriety, there’s private pain.

When Aimee is ten years old, as the night dips into the witching hour, the Woman in White appears to her. Minutes later, Aimee’s father is dead—and Aimee inherits a fortune. But the Woman in White never really leaves Aimee, appearing as a sinister specter before every tragedy in her life. Despite Aimee’s wealth, her cross-continental travels, and her increasingly shocking progression through husbands, Aimee is haunted by the unidentifiable Woman’s mysterious motivations. 

Tearing through millions of dollars, four continents, and a hearty collection of husbands, real-life heiress Aimee Crocker blazed an unbelievable trail of public scandal, private tragedy, and the kind of strong independent woman the 1880s had never seen. Her life was stranger than fiction and brighter than the stars, and she whirled through her days as if she was being chased by something larger than herself. Greer Macallister brilliantly takes us into her world and spins a tale that you won’t soon forget.

This was a surprisingly (to me) engrossing read, although it felt a bit slow in spots. Aimee was an interesting character for sure, well ahead of her time culturally and socially. I enjoyed her point-of-view and found her adventures interesting. While the first part of her life was explored in depth, the later part of it was glossed over and rushed through, and that made the second part of the book feel a bit lacking.

Greer Macallister lives in Boston. The Thirteenth Husband is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks/Landmark in exchange for an honest review.)

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