The Langhorne Sisters

Published 1st October 1998

The Langhorne Sisters is a story of the 20th Century, of the fateful first half of it, told through the lives and letters of five sisters from Virginia and the men they brought into their orbit. It is the story of a generation after the American Civil War; of love and power, war and tragedy, comedy and illusion on both sides of the atlantic: the chronicle of a turbulent family with a somewhat fantastical approach to themselves, whose dynamics brought success and fame as well as errors of perception that caused disaster to the next generation. The story inevitably centres on Nancy, later Nancy Astor, the most flamboyant and the most famous of the Langhorne sisters – an irresistible force of nature bred in the Blue Ridge Mountains, turned loose on the ruling class of England and then on the House of Commons where she was the first woman ever to take her seat. 

 

This book is available to purchase from www.amazon.co.uk.

Reviews

‘James Fox has written a psychological masterpiece…[He] has, consummate artistry, constructed a work that is witty and sad, affectionate but just. it is impossible to put down. One wishes it would never end’. – Robert Skidelsky, The New York Review of Book.

‘Oh, how I loved taking my time reading James Fox’s Five Sisters, absorbing the sort of dazzling details of privilege and class that made his White Mischief so utterly perfect. The Langhorne sisters fascinated their contemporaries on two continents. Now one of the sisters’ grandsons has written their tale and shown us their worlds with enormous style’ – Dominick Dunne
‘The most fascinating chronicle of American high life I have ever read. James Fox deftly steers us from Margaret Mitchell country, via Henry James’s New York and London, to a wonderful Evelyn Waugh-ish finale that is sad and grand and raffish’ – John Richardson
‘James Fox draws us intimately into a domain of wealth, glamour, politics, and tragedy. One is bedazzled and repelled and ultimately bewitched by the relentless narcissism, selfishness, and cruelty of the amazing Langhorne sisters. A mesmerizing book’ – Gloria Vanderbilt
‘[Five Sisters] is not just a study of a family, or of an age, it is a living, breathing re-creation of a singular way of life… Fox has done more than create a monument to his family – he has captured a fading impression and made it glow. The Langhornes are alive again’. – London Observer
‘Combine the plots of Gone With the Wind and The Remains of the Day, add a dash of Henry James and F.Scott Fitzgerald, and you come close to the remarkable mix of family history, political intrigue and high society hauteur that is James Fox’s The Langhorne Sisters’. – Independent
‘In The Langhorne Sisters [Fox] displays all the qualities that made White Mischief a bestseller’ – Literary Review
The quality of Writing is outstanding…a deeply enjoyable and illuminating study of a family in its time’. – The Times
‘Not just a riveting human drama but a serious and original contribution to the social and political history of the last century’ – Sunday Telegraph