So very interesting | Winfield: Living in the Shadow of the Woolworths

Combination half ghost story and half recollection of the past...maybe? | Winfield: Living in the Shadow of the Woolworths | Monica Randall

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	• Winfield: Living in the Shadow of the Woolworths Monica Randall Thomas Dunne Books, 2003 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Living Under the Shadow of the Woolworths

One of the best books I have read in a long time. If you love beautiful old homes and the supernatural, this book is for you! This author knows how to write in such a descriptive way that I felt that I was actually there.

So very interesting

I read until 4;00 AM finishing this fascinating book. It kept my interest and exceeded the high recommendation from another reader. The experience of actually living in that house must have been heaven for a person who has such a strong interest in the houses of that era.

Combination half ghost story and half recollection of the past...maybe?

This book is a bit hard to assess.

I must say that the first "third" of this book is quite interesting because it describes what the GOLD COAST looked like and what it has now become. That point alone should peak the interest of the readers wanting to know more about the GOLD COAST mansions (...but plz remember that only 1/3 of the book is about the actual GOLD COAST mansions.The rest is not,unfortunately).

Thus, there are indeed some interesting "facts" in the first third of the book. BUT, as stated above, I only wish the author had continued the book along these factual lines. But instead, she did not.

Instead, the author chose to write the rest of the book as a semi-novel and/or ghost story.

In summation, the next "third" of the book is basically a novel about the author's experiences while living in Winfield. In this portion of the book, the author describes her strange relationships with various people involved in her "Winfield experience" (such as: her ex-fiancee` Andree; or the movie producer/director Gordon, that used the mansion for a photo shoot; or the psychic reader that the author often called on the phone in the middle of the night (Katia?); or Andree's semi-mute thug-assistant that lived in the mansion's East wing [before he disappeared!] etc...).

The last part of the book is confusing because it describes a combination of ghostly experiences, but unfortunately, leaves out many details.

The most frustrating thing about this book is that the author mentions so many photos & documents that she came across, however, only a few photos were shown in this book!.... Too few, in my opinion. I truly wish the author had shown more photos in this book, and I'm sure many readers feel the same as I do.

Also, the book seems unlikely in many parts, and I get the impression that the author left out so many important details (for example: if the author felt so uncomfortable and frightened in living at Winfield, then why did she continue to live there for so long? She stated that she was emotionally drawn to the mansion, but why? Example: Andree'(her fiancee`) basically left her in the lurch, and the mansion's past also revelaved too many contradictions! So why did she continue to stay?).

Also, how could a single woman live in such a HUGE structure with nobody to watch over her, --- for basic safety reasons. There was no alarm system on Winfield so the mansion was easily accessible to thieves! In addition, the author mentions all the weird vandalisms that took place all over the GOLD COAST.Therefore,what made the author think that some lunatic vandal or rapist would not have broken into the Winfield mansion while she stayed there all those months (especially, when all alone in her bedroom?)? Thus, I found the story hard to comprehend and accept most of the time.

The author says she does not believe in ghosts, but then she says she does. Back and forth. And... the most frustrating part of the book is that when "apparitions" were mentioned, (eg: in photos) the author never expands on those important experiences! It makes me wonder if this book was not a half-truth book, written by somebody wanting to make money off the book sales.

Sorry to say this, but I just did not buy it.

P.S.: I am surprised that Dominick Dunne rated this book as high as he did, because I really like (and respect) Dominick Dunne, and normally,I truly value his opinion. It's a puzzle to me as to why Dominick raved about this strange book.

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Interesting read

I enjoyed reading this book, but was wondering just how much of it is truth. The author seems to have a lavish imagination and takes it a bit over the edge at times. This book is not about historical events, but hear say. I wished it had more original pictures of the estate. Over all I enjoyed it, and would recommend it for a good reading book.

A Magical Mystery Tour of the Gold Coast

Ever since Gatsby glorified it, the Golden Age of Long Island's North Shore continues to fascinate.

Monica Randall's inspired quest to save as many relics of this fading era as she could had me rooting for her all the way. I gasped when I read about the bulldozer operator who took delight in destroying the alabaster fireplace after an unsuccessful bribe. By the time Monica moves to the scene of the 1955 Woodward murder, I was hooked. I have to disagree with some of Randall's "facts" related to that murder. For example, she says that Truman Capote got Ann Woodward to confess that she murdered her husband which I believe is untrue. That was the way Dominick Dunne wrote it in his novel. In actuality, there was a man named Bill Sudduth, now gone, who was part of the circle that Truman Capote and Dominick Dunne ran in. He worked for the cruise line and was put in charge of Ann Woodward in exile after the death of her husband. It was he who provided inside information to Capote and Dunne. I have never read that she confided anything about the "murder" to him over the years they knew each other.

Monica Randall is foolish-brave and not easily spooked. She is self-confident, a model who has worked for Pierre Balmain, the premiere designer in Paris at the time. And she has dreams of a life lived on the Gold Coast during the Gatsby Years or perhaps slightly before. She realizes she seems to have psychic abilities when she sees a "still" of her dream in a turn-of-the-century photograph in the newspaper archives.

From here the book becomes something else, more of an exploration of the spirit world and her own and others' psychic abilities.

A shadow of implausibility hangs over some scenes, however, especially at the end, and I wonder about some of the characters (and rodents) Randall fails to mention in the thoughtful afterword she provides. What happened to her fiance'? I also wondered why, without giving anything away, that a certain area wasn't more fully investigated by the subsequent owners and reported on in the book since it is such a crucial element.

Still, I found the book to be totally engrossing and well-written. I found Randall delightfully odd, especially when describing one of the antique dresses she wore to a party with a real Woolworth who lived in back of her in a large mansion. Her description of the disintegration of this dress had me laughing on the subway.

The entire book has a ghostly feel to it, even the photograph of the author posed in an antique gown with a feather fan. She is ethereal and otherworldly, slightly out of focus against a grand piano. And that's how this book reads -- a lovely tour through the remnants of a forgotten era.

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Monica Randall grew up on the Gold Coast of Long Island and was fascinated by the massive estates and their tantalizing stories. Millionaire F. W. Woolworth built Winfield, the grandest of its manors in the 1910s. On a clear day, you can see the New York City skyline from its balustraded roof, yet for nearly a century few have been allowed to enter its gates.

In the 1960s Monica was living in one of the fabled mansions built by a Five-and-Dime heiress. While there, she began a career scouting locations for movie; she used many of the surrounding estates including Winfield. After a brief incarnation as a charm school, Winfield was closed and auctioned off. At the auction, Monica met a mysterious European businessman, who bought the house. After a whirlwind romance, they became engaged, and Monica moved in to Winfield, only to have her suspicions confirmed: Winfield is haunted. Amid magnificent gilded carvings and marble, a labyrinth of secret passageways, hidden chambers, and deserted tunnels help reveal the true nature of its eccentric builder.

Through exhaustive research and countless interviews, Monica gradually uncovered stories of the Woolworths? sad past: the suicide of Edna Woolworth (Barbara Hutton?s mother), Woolworth?s obsession with Napoleon and the Egyptian occult, and the rumors surrounding the unsolved fire which burnt the first Winfield to the ground. This riveting memoir explores the culture and history of an era gone by, filled with enthralling stories of infamous scandals and breathtaking Gilded Age tales of New York society. Captivating and impossible to put down, this book will enchant readers everywhere.

Throughout the last fifty years the Gold Coast mansions were regularly razed for subdevelopments; Winfield is the last of the marble palaces still standing.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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