This book kind of made me sad because I had always thought that Prince Ranier swept Grace off her feet and she willingly gave up her stardom to become Princess of Monaco. That's not exactly true...
The account of Grace's life goes back and forth from the 50s to the 70s. We immediately see (in the 70s) that she is not completely fulfilled by her life as a Princess and her relationship with Ranier. But then we go back to the beginning, of Grace as a Barbazon model. What I didn't realize is that she really worked hard at acting, taking classes and studying under some great acting teachers. She has a lot of relationships and a lot of success. Even though she didn't realize that she was a success. She had no desire to do movies--she wanted to be a Broadway star. But when that didn't materialize, she decided to give Hollywood a try.
Apparently, the author had to pick and choose which relationships to include, but still, I thought that part went on a big long. A lot of familiar stars and familiar movies were mentioned, and I got a bit tired of it. (But was fascinated by her encounter with Princess Diana.) Maybe if Maher had jumped back to the 70s a bit more in the middle of the book that would have broken it up a bit.
However, I still really enjoyed The Girl in White Gloves. But as I said, my dreams have been shattered. Grace was really forced to give up acting and risked losing her children if she ever tried to move in that direction. Ranier turned out to be quite the cad, and the storybook romance ended fairly quickly.
The Girl in White Gloves is well researched, and the author points out some historical inaccuracies in her notes at the end. Well worth the read if you are interested in Kelly, or the life of a princess.
Published by Berkley, Februery 25, 2020
eARC obtained from NetGalley
384 pages
Rating: 4/5
