Most books about the rise & fall of a great family business can depend upon the family in question being interesting and even gossip-worthy. This book, which is otherwise a fair account of the history & downfall of the T Eaton Co, has no such luck and suffers for it. The younger generation, who could barely eke out a university degree among the lot of them, are boring & unimaginative. No wonder, with such talent at the helm the business failed. And since the Eaton family insisted on running the business themselves & refused to import experienced management, they must shoulder the blame. Eons ago while at university I went on a blind date with the young Thor Eaton. I wonder why he… Read more
If any life ever deserved the adjective "tumultuous", it would be that of Christina Onassis, only daughter of shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis and heiress to one of the world's largest fortunes -- a woman locked emotionally into the persona of a spoiled & pampered four-year old child, whose father lavished on her every luxury imaginable, while withholding the only things she valued and was desperate to obtain: his attention and affection.
While many celebrity bios are either hagiographies or hatchet jobs, this is a balanced account by a sympathetic writer who admires Christina's strengths -- her loyalty to family and culture, her determination to learn the shipping business,… Read more
When naïve, 16 year old Londoner Lisa St-Aubin married Don Jaime Teran, a charming yet enigmatic Latin twice her age, a descendent of the conquistadors & heir to an Andean sugar plantation, it appeared she had entered the pages of a Harlequin Romance. What she got was Gothic Horror with Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at the House of Usher.
Upon arrival at The Hacienda, an overgrown feudal estate in the vertiginous back country of Venezuela, Lisa was virtually abandoned by her husband, left to fend for herself for weeks at a time in a ramshackle, vermin-infested shack. As she struggled to manage the affairs of the antiquated cane plantation which was the sole income for herself, its… Read more
