Venice 1958. Peggy Guggenheim heiress and now legendary art collector sits in the sun at her
white marble palazzo on the Grand Canal. She's in a reflective mood thinking back on her
thrilling tragic nearly impossible journey from her sheltered old-fashioned family in New
York to here iconoclast and independent woman. Rebecca Godfrey's Peggy is a blazingly fresh
interpretation of a woman who defies every expectation to become an original. The daughter of
two Jewish dynasties Peggy finds her cloistered life turned upside down at fourteen when her
beloved father goes down with the Titanic. His death prompts Peggy to seek a life of passion
and personal freedom and above all to believe in the transformative power of art. We follow
Peggy as she makes her way through the glamorous but sexist and antisemitic art worlds of New
York and Europe and meet the numerous men who love her (and her money) while underestimating
her intellect talent and vision. Throughout Peggy must balance her loyalty to her family
with her need to break free from their narrow snobbish way of life and the unexpected
restrictions that come with vast fortune. With intellect and style Rebecca Godfrey in her
final book-completed by her friend the acclaimed writer Leslie Jamison-brings to life a woman
who helped make the Guggenheim name synonymous with art and genius recasting her as in the
words of novelist Jenny Offill 'a feminist icon for our times.'
