The Second Mrs. Astor

Shana Abe

Aug 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Lauren Ezzo

About this audiobook

Madeleine Talmage Force is just seventeen when she attracts the attention of John Jacob "Jack" Astor. Madeleine is beautiful, intelligent, and solidly upper-class, but the Astors are in a league apart. Jack's mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York's most formidable socialite. Despite their twenty-nine-year age difference and the scandal of Jack's recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love-and becomes the press's favorite target. On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace away from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time-and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner. When the ship hits an iceberg close to midnight on April 14th, there is no immediate panic. The swift, state-of-the-art RMS Titanic seems unsinkable. As Jack helps Madeleine into a lifeboat, he assures her that he'll see her soon in New York . . . Four months later, at the Astors' Fifth Avenue mansion, a widowed Madeleine gives birth to their son. In the wake of the disaster, the press has elevated her to the status of virtuous, tragic heroine. But Madeleine's most important decision still lies ahead: whether to accept the role assigned to her or carve out her own remarkable path . . .

About the author

Shana Abe is the award-winning, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including the Sweetest Dark series and the Drákon series. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California, and currently lives in the mountains of Colorado.

Lauren Ezzo is a Chicago-based audiobook narrator and commercial voice talent. A Michigan native and Hope College alumna, she has recorded over 100 titles and garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards for her narrations.