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Archie and Amélie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age
John Armstrong Chanler —Archie to his family— was an heir to the Astor fortune, an eccentric, dashing, and handsome millionaire. Amélie Rives, from a Southern family and the goddaughter of Robert E. Lee, was a daring author, a stunning temptress, and a woman ahead of her time.
Filled with glamour, mystery, and madness, their love affair and marriage made them the talk of society in the Gilded Age.
Archie and Amélie seemed made for each other: both were passionate, intense, and driven by emotion; but the very things that brought them together would soon draw them apart. Their marriage began with a "secret" wedding that found its way onto the front page of the New York Times, to the dismay of Archie's relatives and Amélie's many gentleman friends.
To the world, the couple appeared charmed, rich, and famous; they moved in social circles that included Oscar Wilde, Teddy Roosevelt, and Stanford White. But although their love was undeniable, they tormented each other, and their private life was troubled from the start. They were the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald of their day —a celebrated couple too dramatic and unconventional to last— but their tumultuous story has largely been forgotten.
Now, Donna M Lucey vividly brings to life these extraordinary lovers and their sweeping, tragic romance: "In the Virginia hunt country, just outside of Charlottesville, where I live, the older people still tell stories of a strange couple who died some two generations ago. The stories involve ghosts, the mysterious burning of a church, a murder at a millionaire's house, a sensational lunacy trial, and a beautiful, scantily clad young woman prowling her gardens at night as if she were searching for something or someone —or trying to walk off the effects of the morphine that was deranging her. I was inclined to dismiss all of this as tall tales Virginians love to spin out; but when I looked into these yarns I found proof that they were true… —Donna M Lucey on Archie and Amélie.
Filled with glamour, mystery, and madness, their love affair and marriage made them the talk of society in the Gilded Age.
Archie and Amélie seemed made for each other: both were passionate, intense, and driven by emotion; but the very things that brought them together would soon draw them apart. Their marriage began with a "secret" wedding that found its way onto the front page of the New York Times, to the dismay of Archie's relatives and Amélie's many gentleman friends.
To the world, the couple appeared charmed, rich, and famous; they moved in social circles that included Oscar Wilde, Teddy Roosevelt, and Stanford White. But although their love was undeniable, they tormented each other, and their private life was troubled from the start. They were the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald of their day —a celebrated couple too dramatic and unconventional to last— but their tumultuous story has largely been forgotten.
Now, Donna M Lucey vividly brings to life these extraordinary lovers and their sweeping, tragic romance: "In the Virginia hunt country, just outside of Charlottesville, where I live, the older people still tell stories of a strange couple who died some two generations ago. The stories involve ghosts, the mysterious burning of a church, a murder at a millionaire's house, a sensational lunacy trial, and a beautiful, scantily clad young woman prowling her gardens at night as if she were searching for something or someone —or trying to walk off the effects of the morphine that was deranging her. I was inclined to dismiss all of this as tall tales Virginians love to spin out; but when I looked into these yarns I found proof that they were true… —Donna M Lucey on Archie and Amélie.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
December 13, 2016
Now THIS is the kind of Astor story I want to read! Archie is a great great grandson of the original; Amelie, the spoiled, flirty southern belle he marries. Appearances would say that they would be perfect for each other, but there are problems from the first month. They spend their initial wedded winter separated, he in Paris, she is Virginia at the family seat, but in the spring they travel to London where the become a part of the Soul set and Amelie begins taking morphine.
Constantly seeking a serene life with his wife, Archie is thwarted by his personal passions. Admitting they can no longer live together, he buys property near Castle Hill and then proceeds to develop his vision of self-sufficient town. He also establishes a law firm even though he is not a practicing attorney.
Amelie, on the other hand, continues to live the artistic life in Paris and London. Meeting her Prince Charming she files for divorce throwing American society and the Chanler family in an uproar.
Archie's family locks him in Bloomingdale, a mental sanitarium. Amelie grows poor and loses her looks. Archie eventually gets out and retains his rights supporting Amelie and her husband until he dies.
Amelie was an arch-manipulater from her pubescent years. Men fawned over her. Archie was no exception. The only difference was that Archie became a victim and gave her everything she requested, even when he was no longer obligated to do so. She blatantly wrote letters requesting funds and turned over bills. Amelie refused to live life away from her beloved Castle Hill for a long period of time, risking her first marriage and happiness. These two were not destined for harmony.
Constantly seeking a serene life with his wife, Archie is thwarted by his personal passions. Admitting they can no longer live together, he buys property near Castle Hill and then proceeds to develop his vision of self-sufficient town. He also establishes a law firm even though he is not a practicing attorney.
Amelie, on the other hand, continues to live the artistic life in Paris and London. Meeting her Prince Charming she files for divorce throwing American society and the Chanler family in an uproar.
Archie's family locks him in Bloomingdale, a mental sanitarium. Amelie grows poor and loses her looks. Archie eventually gets out and retains his rights supporting Amelie and her husband until he dies.
Amelie was an arch-manipulater from her pubescent years. Men fawned over her. Archie was no exception. The only difference was that Archie became a victim and gave her everything she requested, even when he was no longer obligated to do so. She blatantly wrote letters requesting funds and turned over bills. Amelie refused to live life away from her beloved Castle Hill for a long period of time, risking her first marriage and happiness. These two were not destined for harmony.
July 20, 2011
Often books that are this thoroughly researched can be difficult to digest. But this was a rich, delicious read. Amelie and Archie were bigger-than-life characters. They lived almost as though they knew they would one day be subjects of fascination to us.
I was most fascinated by Archie's in-depth experimentation in the paranormal, and by how Amelie seems to have been the original Southern Belle, as we've come to understand that archetype through popular culture. In Amelie, we see hints of Scarlet O'Hara, Tennessee Williams' Maggie, Suzanne Sugarbaker and Blanche Devereaux.
Archie and Amelie does such a painless job of wrapping you up in Gilded Age society -- a world of such distinct and separate privilege -- that I tended to forget I was reading about the 19th century. It was a time of gritty street life, cities swarming with immigrants, cowboys and indians. But "society" lived so well, they seemed to be accelerated forward in time.
I was most fascinated by Archie's in-depth experimentation in the paranormal, and by how Amelie seems to have been the original Southern Belle, as we've come to understand that archetype through popular culture. In Amelie, we see hints of Scarlet O'Hara, Tennessee Williams' Maggie, Suzanne Sugarbaker and Blanche Devereaux.
Archie and Amelie does such a painless job of wrapping you up in Gilded Age society -- a world of such distinct and separate privilege -- that I tended to forget I was reading about the 19th century. It was a time of gritty street life, cities swarming with immigrants, cowboys and indians. But "society" lived so well, they seemed to be accelerated forward in time.
November 2, 2013
Whoa, baby, this book has it ALL. Drugs, sex, money, madness, scheming relatives, betrayal - its's a show-stopper of a story, well told and compelling.
Amelie Rives was the "it" girl of the Gilded Age, a beautiful southern girl who wrote scandalously steamy novels, took drugs, married an Astor scion and then a Russian prince. Part Scarlett O'Hara, part Paris Hilton, she hooked the unstable Archie Chanler, who spent the better part of his life fighting his siblings, who'd committed to an asylum so that he wouldn't run through all the family's money. Archie believed he could change the color of his eyes and transform his face into the likeness of Napoleon. He escaped from the nut hatch and moved to the ironically named "Merry Mill," where he lived and died in a John Nash-like nocturnal world of his own, scribbling on the walls, writing reams of poetry and self-defending diatribes. And then there was his odd brother Robert, who became the darling of the Armory Show in 1913, a society decorator who lived for years in Woodstock and was the life and soul of the artists' group, The Maverick. Please, Donna Lucey, write your next book about him!
Amelie Rives was the "it" girl of the Gilded Age, a beautiful southern girl who wrote scandalously steamy novels, took drugs, married an Astor scion and then a Russian prince. Part Scarlett O'Hara, part Paris Hilton, she hooked the unstable Archie Chanler, who spent the better part of his life fighting his siblings, who'd committed to an asylum so that he wouldn't run through all the family's money. Archie believed he could change the color of his eyes and transform his face into the likeness of Napoleon. He escaped from the nut hatch and moved to the ironically named "Merry Mill," where he lived and died in a John Nash-like nocturnal world of his own, scribbling on the walls, writing reams of poetry and self-defending diatribes. And then there was his odd brother Robert, who became the darling of the Armory Show in 1913, a society decorator who lived for years in Woodstock and was the life and soul of the artists' group, The Maverick. Please, Donna Lucey, write your next book about him!
March 2, 2019
Wow! What a look into a crazy - literally - bunch of characters in the American Gilded Age. At first I thought the book was going to be a real slog. The beginning story of the Astor family just had TMI and too much description. I really didn't care that much about the trappings of carriages and the minute details of weddings and funerals. But once the book got into the stories of the main characters things picked up speed. The Astor siblings lost their parents at an early age and were supervised by a sort of committee of adults called The Guardians. Archie was the oldest sibling and, as such, was expected to take over the patrimony when he came of age. He had been shipped off to school in England and virtually abandoned after the death of his parents and had little in the way of care or love while he was growing up. He fell madly in love with Adelie who was a talented painter and writer, but grasping and self-centered and only really tolerated him (after an initial passionate romance) because she needed his money. Archie was a rather pathetic figure who was probably bipolar. He was exceedingly generous and constantly gave away his fortune to anyone who asked. He was obsessed with the psyche and the power of what he called his Faculty-X -a voice from his subconscious that communicated to him in bizarre ways. He channeled Napoleon Bonaparte. Not altogether surprising that his siblings consigned him to a lunatic asylum for years. It's a fascinating picture of the rich and famous, and a cautionary tale of the destructive power of money.
October 9, 2017
3 1/2. Great story. Somewhat buried in lots and lots and lots of background material about everyone in the family. Thank goodness for the family tree.
December 27, 2017
This would have made a spectacular, page-turning novel that would have kept readers awake long into the night. Unfortunately, it's not a novel. It's a rather dry nonfiction account of John "Archie" Armstrong Chanler, one of the heirs to the massive Astor fortune, and Amélie Rives, a beautiful Southern belle whose godfather was Robert E. Lee. Prodigiously researched by author Donna M. Lucey, the book is a stellar historical account of the scandalous marriage and divorce and subsequent descent into mental illness of two of society's darlings during the 1890s. Archie and Amélie not only arrogantly defied society's expectations of them, but also pompously flaunted its established morals.
If you enjoy reading history, you'll probably enjoy this book. But there is little heart or soul to it—just fact after fact after fact, which is such a shame because the subject matter is positively explosive in its potential for a shocking, passionate and wickedly outrageous tale. Oh well!
If you enjoy reading history, you'll probably enjoy this book. But there is little heart or soul to it—just fact after fact after fact, which is such a shame because the subject matter is positively explosive in its potential for a shocking, passionate and wickedly outrageous tale. Oh well!
July 9, 2014
I'm giving the book two stars because I'd never heard of either Archie or Amelie before so the subject matter should have been interesting. The lack of objectivity is wearing, though. Lucey's palpable dislike of Amelie Rives--a dislike not shared by people like Edith Wharton, Henry James, and Oscar Wilde--became tiresome very quickly. I shall seek out a book on Amelie that is not quite so biased. Archie, however, comes across as nuttier than a Payday bar, pages of rationalization notwithstanding.
July 6, 2016
I found this book disappointing. I never got a feel for what Archie or Amelie were like or what they're marriage was like. It mostly focused on Archie and his life before and after his marriage to Amelie.
December 30, 2017
I loved this so much, I went and scoured used book sites to be able to read Amelie Rives' book! I talked about it so much my boyfriend at the time bought me Rives' sequel. I even reread it for fun several years later, and have lent it to many friends.
December 1, 2021
Stories about the decadent lives of the rich and famous never get old even when the events are a bit over 100 years old. This book is about the rocky marriage of Archie, heir to the Astor fortune, and Amelie (of several last names), a beautiful Southern belle who wrote scandalous novels. This book is wonderfully fact-dense to provide background and may seem slow reading for some. I greatly enjoyed it and learned more than I already did about Victorian times, a time period that had a lot of batty thing going on. The author did a good job in my opinion keeping to the central story after providing background and context. I found myself wondering if some of the actual people were known to authors as John Jacob Astor - whose frugal ways and ruthless investments created the fortune - makes Scrooge (pre-ghost visits) look jolly - and Amelie's way with men made Scarlett O'Hara look like a wall flower. Although Amelie's novels did not become classics, she was certainly well known and encouraged by authors of the day whose works are still read. My rating is 4 stars for an informative, interesting read although it did move slowly at parts.
July 12, 2017
An entrancing view into lives of the wealthy and privileged in 19th and early 20th century America - thus the "Gilded Age" of the sub-title. Lucey has done monumental research on the people in this book and it shows in the rich narrative which incorporates lots and lots of excerpts from letters of the 'combatants' - and I use that word deliberately because from the social class that I'm in, if ever one suspects that money and power and influence guarantee happy, serene, humane, uncluttered, sane and healthy lives, the portrait of these two representatives will dissuade mightily. And it's these strangenesses that make for an interesting read; one almost is a voyeur into their privacy, a reader of the pulp press as it were. The author has a nice, engaging style and if sometimes, especially at the beginning I found myself wondering who's who given the myriad of names and short bios of the families and their friends, partners and acquaintances, the cloud gave way as the two of the title emerged and the book sped nicely to its inexorable conclusion. Nice read; strange people.
October 14, 2019
I thought my family was nuts. Talk about a bunch of loonies. The Astor's were a crazy lot and Amelie was just plain crazy. I don't even know where to begin with this. It was a long difficult book to read because there was just too much detail. You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out who is doing what to whom and who is with who in this book. I did read the whole thing but what a struggle. Basically it comes down to one lunatic falls desperately in love with another lunatic. The second lunatic begins to feel smothered by the first lunatic and divorces him and marries a third lunatic because she thinks he has money, which he doesn't, but that's okay because the first lunatic continues to support the other two lunatics. This goes on until the first lunatic dies. End of story. The loonies win or lose; however, you want to look at it.
November 2, 2017
Archie Chanler, dashing, handsome and artistic, was heir to part of the Astor fortune. Amelie Rives, beautiful, passionate and creative, was a scandalous author from an old, but poor, Southern family. Their secret wedding scandalized his family and, though they moved in the highest of social and literary circles, their private lives soon turned bitter, driving them to divorce and Archie into madness, or so his family claimed. The F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald of their day, their tragic romance has all the elements of a tragic soap opera - love, drugs, wealth, plots and madness.
May 10, 2025
The description and blurb made it seem like this would be a much more scandalous and madness filled story. Really it's just about a depressed diva and a possibly manic schizophrenic guy (whose schizophrenia doesn't really manifest until the last 50 pages or so). There was a LOT of information about Archie's life and the whole Chanler clan before he met Amelie. Their actual marriage was pretty sad and tame. I would probably have liked this more if it were told as historical fiction rather than nonfiction. As it is, it's a bit dry.
June 27, 2020
The Astor family lifestyle in the “gilded age” shows that having huge financial resources doesn’t make everything swimmingly wonderful even having access to pretty much anything you could ever want. Well written, but I had hoped to learn more about Amelie and her writing. I actually bought this book as I had read that the author lived for a time in Mobile, AL but turns out it was only a tiny spot of her like and not a happy one at that.
November 22, 2017
A descendant of Robert E Lee and an infamous celebrity of her day marries the heir to the Astor fortune in the Gilded Age. It reads like a soap opera with sex, madness, loves won and quickly lost, fortunes won and lost, etc. The Kardashians of yesteryear? Unfortunately, I just didn't get swept up in the story. The writing just never got me to care.
November 28, 2018
This is another story of crazy rich people in the Gilded Age. Amelie is a manipulate little twit who will stop at nothing to get her way. Archie comes from a long line of eccentrics with mental illness who desperately falls in love with a woman...along with at least 50 other men. This combination is not good for either person and leads to Archie being locked up in an asylum by his family.
July 21, 2025
I've been enjoying watching "The Gilded Age," and it inspired me to pick up some related reading at the East Providence Public Library (Weaver Branch) involving some historic individuals related to some of those in the show! This one is a fascinating tale, as it says on the tin, of love and madness!
September 5, 2025
eh!! the major part of the story - about their relationship and marriage - seemed rather dry and repetitive, although it was interesting reading about Amelie's being so ahead of her time; it got somewhat more interesting in the last section devoted to Archie's life after their divorce. The most interesting part for me was the local connection.
January 10, 2026
Since we live in Charlottesville and have been to Castle Hill, I found this super fascinating. Even without that local knowledge I would have enjoyed learning about these interesting characters and time. I only rated it a 4 because I felt it was a bit of a slow read in parts of it. Still recommend!
January 31, 2018
I think what fascinated me most is this all really happened, these crazy characters living the supposed perfect life had the biggest flaws imaginable. Very well written with lots of details. The pictures at the very end were perfect. Highly recommend to get a snippet of the 'gilded age' era!
November 15, 2018
Fair book
I got tired of the over indulged people in this book. Seems like a bunch of spoiled to me. They complain about everything, make tons of mistakes and blame overtone for their mistakes.
I got tired of the over indulged people in this book. Seems like a bunch of spoiled to me. They complain about everything, make tons of mistakes and blame overtone for their mistakes.
June 10, 2018
What a joy to read.
One of the great love stories of the builder age. Donna M. Lucey did a wonderful job at research and turned it into a joy to read. The parts about Archie Chanlers' Bi Polar is spot on. Thank for sharing such a great story.
One of the great love stories of the builder age. Donna M. Lucey did a wonderful job at research and turned it into a joy to read. The parts about Archie Chanlers' Bi Polar is spot on. Thank for sharing such a great story.
June 29, 2018
A mesmerizing look
Into a glittering age in America when money was considered essential and families were damaged and estranged for greed and appearance. ...and there is nothing new under the sun.
Into a glittering age in America when money was considered essential and families were damaged and estranged for greed and appearance. ...and there is nothing new under the sun.
February 3, 2019
Amelie Rives is my relative on my Great Grandmother Rives side. Our family history is captivating, adventurous, warm and wonderful but also, at times, dark and tragic. Glad to be part of the Rives and Adams line of writers, artists, and poets.
January 15, 2024
I don’t know why I finished this book. Chapter 1 should have warned me how this would go. There was so much potential with the characters and the time period, but this book was not a fun read at all.
August 23, 2017
Not what I thought it would be
September 14, 2017
It was a fascinating and surprisingly entertaining biography of two remarkable people. The author has a terrific way of holding a reader's attention. I am looking forward to Lucey's latest release!
October 21, 2017
Sad, but yet these two people give you a lot to think about. That Charlottesville certainly has a lot more history than Thomas Jefferson!
November 30, 2017
Bizarre couple - an Astor heir and his bodice-ripper author wife, but I really couldn't get too interested in either of them - something about the obscenely wealthy's problems leave me cold.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews