That Woman (Sebba) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Anne Sebba cuts through decades of rumor and mythology to try to reveal the truth about this woman and her extraordinary journey from upper-middle-class Baltimore girl to jet-setting royal mistress to lonely outcast.... The book's strength is that Sebba remains objective in telling the story of such a polarizing figure as Simpson. The king's paramour elicits empathy for the media scrutiny she had to endure and for the dilemma she faced as she realized she was trapped in a suffocating relationship. But Sebba doesn't skimp on unflattering details that reveal Simpson's cruel verbal abuse of her husband and her shallow fixation on her weight and wealth.
Sarah Halzack - Washington Post


In contrast to most British assessments of Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson, later the Duchess of Windsor, this book is clear-sighted and unsentimental about, but relatively sympathetic to, the woman for whom King Edward VIII gave up his throne in 1936, shaking Britain and its royal family to the core.
And amazingly, after 75 years, there is new material to assess. Sebba has gained access to previously unexamined Simpson letters that reveal more about who she was, her fears and regrets during the abdication crisis, how she tried to prevent it and the marriage, and how she was nearly destroyed when the “romance of the century” was near universally condemned.
Maria Puente - USA Today


“I hope to humanize rather than demonize” the woman for whose sake King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne, writes Sebba (Jennie Churchill: Winston’s American Mother) in this controversial biography that was a bestseller in Britain. The author, using interviews, previously unavailable letters, and media accounts, explores how Simpson, a spunky Southern belle, changed her life after two divorces and numerous love affairs on two continents, seized the heart of then prince of Wales, and weathered the wrath of the royals and the hostile British press. Two startling speculations concerning Simpson’s medical and psychological state attribute her sexual fierceness and flirtatiousness to a possible form of hermaphroditism and the need to emphasize her femininity. Sebba discloses the tremendous pressure from the royal family and high society on the new king to place English tradition above his bond to the American divorcee with her dubious background. Sebba details the life after the abdication, in which the duchess proved herself a resourceful survivor. This accomplished biography is smart, eloquent, and unafraid to go beyond the myth of the duchess of Windsor.
Publishers Weekly


While the allure of Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII's story has lasted over 70 years, Sebba...presents the complex woman behind that relationship, who was not merely a social climber/seductress.... Verdict: Sebba dispels the myths that surround the pair (such as that theirs was a love story for the ages). Charles Higham's The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life spends more time on their alleged Nazi sympathies. Greg King's The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson supports the love story and defends Wallis Simpson. Sebba's more nuanced biography should be included in any collection covering this subject. —Maria Bagshaw, West Dundee, IL
Library Journal


The story has been told many times but never seems to get old. Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, took up with King Edward VIII of England, and, in 1936, he abdicated to marry her....  The author makes it clear that Wallis never intended to become the queen, but once she embarked on her affair, she found it impossible to back out, and when the prince suddenly became king, marriage was not what she had planned. Sexual proclivities and domineering personality traits all factor into Sebba’s picture of the Windsor relationship. For popular biography collections. —Brad Hooper
Booklist


An in-depth biography of the notorious Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor....pulls no punches in revealing the secrets of its subject.... It's impossible to know definitively, but Sebba's extensive research has led her to conclude that Wallis may have been born genetically male, but developed outwardly as a female, or, alternatively, that she was a pseudo-hermaphrodite.... Derisively referred to as "that woman" by the Queen Mother, Wallis is depicted, in grand detail, as cunning yet "irresistible" for her charismatic "personal sparkle." Salacious and consuming, this well-researched biography will appeal to readers interested in British political and women's history.
Kirkus Reviews