What do readers think of The Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull? Write your own review.

Consuming the tabloid headlines and pictures of the British Royals is an indulgent pastime for many. The pomp and circumstance, designer clothes and fantastic hats create images of beautiful people in their beautiful world while the stories are rife with indiscretion, betrayal and scandal. Historical fiction,The Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull is the story of Viscount Furness, wife of one of the richest men in the world in the late 20s. Thelma, her common name, is the twin sister of Gloria Vanderbilt. Twin daughters of an American diplomat, they imbibe in the upper-class worlds of both the US and Great …more Britain. As the book title suggests, Thelma was Prince Edward's mistress before Wallis Simpson, the American woman for whom he abdicated the British throne in 1936. The exploits of Thelma, Gloria and their privileged peers lead to trysts, marriages, divorces and romances eventually culminating in an epic trial. Seems domestic dysfunction and turmoil are constants for the Royal family and those who play with them.

While the saga is predictable, Turnbull successfully fleshes out these historical characters as real people who try to navigate an existence that is not always so beautiful. In most cases they succumb to the excess of the moment and have to deal with the consequences, much like most of us, but on a far bigger stage in front of a voracious audience.

This book is recommended for those who seek a little substance to support their tabloid habit. (less)

It looks like I am the first reader to give this book a rating of 3 rather than a 5. Why did I do this? It is true I enjoyed reading about all the fashions of the day and the many homes and "cottages" of the wealthy people of the day. I also appreciated knowing that Thelma, mistress of the Duke, and Gloria were twins and very loyal to each other. Gloria, mother of Gloria Vanderbilt, was a rather shallow but interesting person. She was lucky to have a sister with money to help her out of many fixes.

What I didn't like about this book is that it goes on and on about the problems of the very wealthy and much of the …more book is devoted to Gloria's life and problems not Thelma's affair with the Duke. If your book club likes light reading this fits the bill- mine wouldn't appreciate it. (less)

This book tells the story of an American woman romantically invoved with Edward, The Prince of Wales prior to his much storied relationship with Wallis Simpson. I tried with every page I read to find some redeeming quality in each and every one of the characters in this novel, but I invariably came up short. For the most part, the author's prose was seamless and her inclusion of fascinating, albeit salacious, historical detail kept my interest. However, in this reviewer's opinion the story's characters were empty vessels totally immersed in their own greed and self preservation with less than a shred of human civility or propriety.

This book is basically a story of the social life of two affluent American twin sisters during the 1920s and 1930s as well as also including the social escapades of their acquaintances. Further, depending upon your own personal point of view, the twins either lived exciting lives filled with romantic interludes involving a string of men with or without the benefit of marriage or else lived sordid existences with little value or meaningful contributions to the world at large.

One of the twins was Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, the wife of Reginald Vanderbilt who lived life to the fullest but ended up losing her legal …more right to raise her only biological child (Little Gloria – the famous fashion designer) due to her early choices to pass that child's nurturing to a nanny. The other twin was Thelma Morgan Furness who became a member of British aristocracy and eventually was the mistress of Edward, the Prince of Wales. Of course, we all are quite familiar with the fact that the Prince eventually abdicated the position of King of England in favor of having a married life with Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, who supposedly had been a friend of Thelma's. I must confess that I was quite familiar with the controversy the Prince faced over the royal family's disapproval of his marriage, I really knew very little about Thelma or relationship to Gloria Vanderbilt. So this part of the story was new to me.

I enjoyed the easy to read style of writing employed by the author – which made the book flow effortlessly; however, I was annoyed by the choice of the author to use the popular technique of alternating time periods skipping ahead to the trial for custody of little Gloria and then back to what was going on in the social world of Thelma and her twin sister. The switch in time periods actually was easy to follow – but I would have preferred a strictly chronological story.

The aspect that really drove down my overall rating of my pleasure in reading the book was that the author had been described as a writer of historical fiction and so I unwittingly was anticipating that the romantic element of the book would have been enveloped by descriptions of worldly political and historical events during the time period covered by the book. In my opinion, the book described their lives as if they took place in a vacuum.

If you enjoy scandal and a riveting social life, I think you will love this book. If you want something with more historical substance, I think you will not be satisfied.

I received this book as part of the First Impression activity of BookBrowse in exchange for my review of the novel. (less)

The Woman Before Wallis is a night-time soap opera in a book. The trials of Gloria Vanderbilt Sr. are woven between the ups and downs of her twin sister, Thelma Furness. All is based on the need for a rich husband, who with few exceptions is bound to let you down anyway. Beautiful clothes, furs, expensive cars, and high society shenanigans. If we could go to the beach this year, it would be the perfect past time. The twins were believable but the Duke and especially Wallis Simpson had no depth, alas.