Empty Mansions: The \;Mysterious L ife of Huguette Clark \;and the Spending of a Great American Fortune \;by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell\, Jr. \;
\nWhen Pulitzer Prize&ndash\
;winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale\, un
occupied for \;nearly sixty \;years\, he stumbled through a surpri
sing portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich \;mystery
of wealth and loss\, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth
century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance
. At its heart is a reclusive \;heiress \;named Huguette Clark\, a
woman so secretive that\, at the time of her death at age 104\, no new ph
otograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes
in California\, New York\, and Connecticut\, why had she lived for twenty
years in a simple hospital room\, despite being in excellent health? Why w
ere her valuables \;being sold \;off? Was she in control of her fo
rtune\, or controlled by those managing her money? \;
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Print copies are available at the \;Library. eBooks and \;eAudio
books \;are available on Libby. \;