Almost everyone has heard the phrase “Money can’t buy happiness.”. However, for Florence Lacaze Gould, it did exactly that. This book takes place from the early 1900s until Gould’s death in 1983. Throughout the book, readers get an insight in how a poor French immigrant can turn into a billionaire Nazi collaborator in just a few years. Florence’s story starts in San Francisco. Right away, she has dreams of marrying rich and living lavishly. From the moment she realizes her honest American beauty, she uses it selfishly to her advantage. This is stated by the author "Florence understood instinctively that beauty, as well as money, was power; and she had both in abundance."(Ronald 44). Her mother then promptly starts grooming her into avidly looking for rich men to marry. Her plans take a sudden turn when the San Francisco earthquakes in 1906 send her family back to Paris to start a new life. Her moving to Paris is a breakthrough in her desperate attempt to marry rich. Even as a young teenager, she starts to study the life of the rich in Paris. She entails about the affairs between the elite women and men. She inserts herself into these people's lives by going to salons and impressing them with her singing and looks. She ends up marrying a semi-rich man by the name of Hessyman by age 19 in Madrid. This marriage was based on pure strategy as Florence wanted a way to move up in her social stature. The marriage takes a turn for the worse when she starts to travel back and forth from Paris and San Francisco just to collect her dead father’s inheritance and trick the American government into believing she is a citizen. She ends up spreading false rumors of adultery and abuse all across both countries and they get a divorce. She then goes back to Paris and inserts herself yet again in the elite’s business. She uses her charm to befriend both men and women in hopes of finding someone to marry. She finally meets Frank Gould, the alcoholic and wayward son of billionaire railroad businessman Jay Gould. Once she meets him, she practically takes over all his finances and starts a successful casino, buys a beautiful home, and so much more on the French Riviera. She uses her newfound wealth and increase in social status to befriend and work in the likeness of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, Estée Lauder, Charlie Chaplin, and other well known people. Even with the Great Depression affecting many people in the world,the Goulds still manage to stay incredibly wealthy. The book then takes a shift into the beginning of World War II. Gould meets many of her German lovers. She lets their anti-Semetic and pro-Aryan talk convince her to join a money laundering operation that would benefit Hitler and the Third Reich. Her views changes from moderate to radical right winged. She joined the right for the sole reason that strategically it was the best option. The radical right at the time had the most connections to the government and wealth. Her views were seen as half anti-Semitic as she only discriminated against lower class Jewish people. She only accepted the Jewish people in her circle. Normal low income Jewish people were not seen in a good light to her. She consistently turned a blind eye to discrimination faced against Jewish people. She believed she simply had the funds to do so. She herself said “Money doesn’t care who owns it.” (Ronald 80). As World War II went on, France as well as Berthe, Gould’s mother, were falling ill. Berthe sadly died in 1940. Soon after this, she began hiding her wealthy Jewish friends in her several homes to protect them from persecution. She also had artwork sold and taken by Nazi leaders at this time. She even started a Nazi salon where many Nazis in high ranks would attend. This landed her in trouble, as well as with the money laundering, with the CIA. The case never fully went through and she went on with her life like nothing happened. The salon previously occupied with Nazis was switched out with Americans and the French. She uses the money gained from her artwork and marriage inheritance to fund many establishments such as New York University and the Cannes Film Festival. She became a big patron of the arts. It’s said that she turned to this to fix her reputation of being a Nazi collaborator. I personally feel this was one of the most emotionally fueled books I’ve ever read. I was enraged for the weeks I spent reading this book. It was so beautifully written to the point where it made me have a great dislike for Florence Gould herself. This book made me do more research in Florence Gould; and to my surprise, she helped fund the school of science and arts at one of my top schools—New York University. The use of her sexuality to get ahead in the French and American society disappoints me because it’s a route most women at the time would have had to take. She was noted to have slept with both men and women just to meet powerful people. This didn’t sit well with me in the book and added on to the dislike for Florence Gould I already had. I suggest reading books about the history of the Golden Age, the Great Depression, and WWII before reading this book. Some of the terms and situations in this book would be common knowledge only to those with knowledge of these time periods. Many if not all of Ronald’s books such as Hitler’s Art Thief and Heretic Queen: Queen Elizabeth are centered around historical time periods. She specifically likes writing about either the Renaissance or the time period between both World Wars. The one thing about the book I find would be hard to look past is that it reads very history textbook like. This is a great book for WWII buffs such as myself but hard for normal avid readers. I recommend this book for all WWII buffs as well as anyone studying European history to get an insight on the effects of having immense wealth had on the Golden Age, the Great Depression, and WWII. Overall, this was a great book. I’ve never been more upset with a character in a book in a long time, so reading this was refreshing. It is definitely a book, however, I could never read again. I’d get way too upset.
Florence’s story starts in San Francisco. Right away, she has dreams of marrying rich and living lavishly. From the moment she realizes her honest American beauty, she uses it selfishly to her advantage. This is stated by the author "Florence understood instinctively that beauty, as well as money, was power; and she had both in abundance."(Ronald 44). Her mother then promptly starts grooming her into avidly looking for rich men to marry. Her plans take a sudden turn when the San Francisco earthquakes in 1906 send her family back to Paris to start a new life.
Her moving to Paris is a breakthrough in her desperate attempt to marry rich. Even as a young teenager, she starts to study the life of the rich in Paris. She entails about the affairs between the elite women and men. She inserts herself into these people's lives by going to salons and impressing them with her singing and looks. She ends up marrying a semi-rich man by the name of Hessyman by age 19 in Madrid. This marriage was based on pure strategy as Florence wanted a way to move up in her social stature.
The marriage takes a turn for the worse when she starts to travel back and forth from Paris and San Francisco just to collect her dead father’s inheritance and trick the American government into believing she is a citizen. She ends up spreading false rumors of adultery and abuse all across both countries and they get a divorce.
She then goes back to Paris and inserts herself yet again in the elite’s business. She uses her charm to befriend both men and women in hopes of finding someone to marry. She finally meets Frank Gould, the alcoholic and wayward son of billionaire railroad businessman Jay Gould. Once she meets him, she practically takes over all his finances and starts a successful casino, buys a beautiful home, and so much more on the French Riviera.
She uses her newfound wealth and increase in social status to befriend and work in the likeness of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, Estée Lauder, Charlie Chaplin, and other well known people. Even with the Great Depression affecting many people in the world,the Goulds still manage to stay incredibly wealthy.
The book then takes a shift into the beginning of World War II. Gould meets many of her German lovers. She lets their anti-Semetic and pro-Aryan talk convince her to join a money laundering operation that would benefit Hitler and the Third Reich. Her views changes from moderate to radical right winged. She joined the right for the sole reason that strategically it was the best option. The radical right at the time had the most connections to the government and wealth.
Her views were seen as half anti-Semitic as she only discriminated against lower class Jewish people. She only accepted the Jewish people in her circle. Normal low income Jewish people were not seen in a good light to her. She consistently turned a blind eye to discrimination faced against Jewish people. She believed she simply had the funds to do so. She herself said “Money doesn’t care who owns it.” (Ronald 80).
As World War II went on, France as well as Berthe, Gould’s mother, were falling ill. Berthe sadly died in 1940. Soon after this, she began hiding her wealthy Jewish friends in her several homes to protect them from persecution. She also had artwork sold and taken by Nazi leaders at this time.
She even started a Nazi salon where many Nazis in high ranks would attend. This landed her in trouble, as well as with the money laundering, with the CIA. The case never fully went through and she went on with her life like nothing happened. The salon previously occupied with Nazis was switched out with Americans and the French.
She uses the money gained from her artwork and marriage inheritance to fund many establishments such as New York University and the Cannes Film Festival. She became a big patron of the arts. It’s said that she turned to this to fix her reputation of being a Nazi collaborator.
I personally feel this was one of the most emotionally fueled books I’ve ever read. I was enraged for the weeks I spent reading this book. It was so beautifully written to the point where it made me have a great dislike for Florence Gould herself. This book made me do more research in Florence Gould; and to my surprise, she helped fund the school of science and arts at one of my top schools—New York University.
The use of her sexuality to get ahead in the French and American society disappoints me because it’s a route most women at the time would have had to take. She was noted to have slept with both men and women just to meet powerful people. This didn’t sit well with me in the book and added on to the dislike for Florence Gould I already had.
I suggest reading books about the history of the Golden Age, the Great Depression, and WWII before reading this book. Some of the terms and situations in this book would be common knowledge only to those with knowledge of these time periods. Many if not all of Ronald’s books such as Hitler’s Art Thief and Heretic Queen: Queen Elizabeth are centered around historical time periods. She specifically likes writing about either the Renaissance or the time period between both World Wars.
The one thing about the book I find would be hard to look past is that it reads very history textbook like. This is a great book for WWII buffs such as myself but hard for normal avid readers. I recommend this book for all WWII buffs as well as anyone studying European history to get an insight on the effects of having immense wealth had on the Golden Age, the Great Depression, and WWII.
Overall, this was a great book. I’ve never been more upset with a character in a book in a long time, so reading this was refreshing. It is definitely a book, however, I could never read again. I’d get way too upset.