The Queen of Whale Cay
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Summerscale, Kate, PUBLISHER: Viking Books, She was the fastest woman on water -- then she slipped from sight to pursue a fascinating, bizarre life as the "ruler" of a tropical island in the Bahamas When Marion "Joe" Carstairs died in at the age of ninety-three, she was largely forgotten. During the s she held the world record as the fastest female speedboat racer. But as journalist Kate Summerscale discovered, when researching an obituary for the Daily Telegraph, Carstairs was also a notorious cross-dresser who favored women and smoked cheroots. Supremely self-confident, she inherited a Standard Oil fortune and knew how to spend her money -- on fast boats and cars, female lovers, and a Caribbean island, Whale Cay, where she reigned over a colony of Bahamians. There, far from her bohemian past in London and Paris, she hosted a succession of girlfriends and celebrities, including Marlene Dietrich and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Through it all, she remained devoted to Lord Tod Wadley, a little doll who became her bosom companion. Already a bestseller in England, The Queen of Whale Cay is a marvelous portrait of one of the twentieth century's great eccentrics. "A biography that sparkles with enthusiastic research and empathetic writing". -- Sunday Times