A Mansion of Her Own: The Mysterious Life of Heiress Alice DeLamar

by Nona Footz, Audrey Clare Farley (Primary Contributor)

In 1918, at twenty-three, Alice Delamar inherited the vast fortune of her mining magnate father, reportedly becoming the richest maiden of her time. She was swiftly hounded by the press, who wanted to know: Would she assume her father's famed Pembroke Estate? What would she do with all that money? And most importantly, whom would she marry?

Determined to evade the public eye, Alice built sprawling, tree-covered estates, where she mixed with acclaimed figures like Vladimir Nabokov, Salvador Dali, Ludwig Bemelmans, George Balanchine, and Eva Le Gallienne. Behind a wall of her own making, she lived a life that hardly would have suited high society, also keeping the confidences of the cascade of characters who came to populate her compounds-in some cases, before being dramatically cast out of paradise.

After learning of Alice in a biography of La Gallienne, Nona Footz was spellbound. Who was this woman, and what was she hiding? She spent the next decade rummaging through musty attics and traveling to far-flung cities in search of a manuscript that Alice was rumored to have left behind. What she found, especially among Alice's surviving posse, took her breath away.

A Mansion of Her Own is an illuminating portrait of the mysterious millionairess, as well as an exploration of the ways that the dead push and pull the living. Tender and probing, it's an unforgettable story about what we hide and what we seek-both from others and ourselves.

Genres: Biography

272 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication October 6, 2026

Reviews

[Richard Propes · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the end of Nona Footz's "A Mansion of Her Own: The Mysterious Life of Heiress Alice DeLamar," a couple of things were true.

First, I didn't much care for DeLamar as a human being.

Second, I found her biography fascinating.

As readers, we're often tasked with what seems like an impossible chore - setting aside our feelings about a human being and evaluating a book as, well, a book.

Footz does a marvelous job of capturing the story of this previously unknown to me heiress, largely a recluse who became a fairy godmother of sorts to wounded soul artists of the twentieth-century who, in turn, seemed to do a fair amount of protecting of DeLamar's own closely guarded secrets.

For fans of Vanderbilt and The Last Castle, a riveting biography of the reclusive heiress who became a fairy godmother to twentieth-century artists while intently guarding her own secrets.

In 1918, a 23-year-old DeLamar inherited the vast fortune of her mining magnate father, a difficult to like chap who, nonetheless, seemingly set up his daughter for life. Questions swirled around the young but elusive heiress from "Whom would she marry?" to "What would she do with all that money?"

I'm not prone to appreciating this type of biography where the author actually becomes a character within, and yet such an approach is more than appropriate here. In fact, I'd dare say it's vital to appreciate the fullness of DeLamar's story. DeLamar spent a good majority of her life evading the public eye. She built massive, tree-covered estates where she drew the likes of Vladimir Nabokov, Salvador Dali, George Balanchine, Eva Le Gallienne and others. And yet, DeLamar's story was seemingly lost to history until Footz stumbled across her name in Le Gallienne's own biography.

Who was this mysterious woman? Why did no one seem to know about her? And what about a reported manuscript authored by DeLamar herself that seemingly disappeared?

"A Mansion of Her Own" is a compelling read, surprisingly breezy and difficult to put down. Admittedly, there were times I found myself repulsed by DeLamar such as her protectiveness over one particular guest with a penchant for flirting with young lads. However, DeLamar's story is fiercely captivating as is the story as she at least sort of righted her own life after a difficult upbringing somewhat thanks to one instructor who became a maternal figure of sorts.

Equally compelling is Footz's own journey with this story. Developed over several years and despite the seeming resistance of many of DeLamar's acquaintances, "A Mansion of Her Own" leaves us as spellbound as was Footz when she discovered this story. While by the end of the story I didn't much care for DeLamar, it is also true that by the end of this story I found her life story captivating and the journey she had admirable in some sort of way.

While "A Mansion of Her Own" is a biography, it's honestly more than a biography. It's a book about the journey of life. It's a book that does, indeed, explore the ways we play hide-and-seek with ourselves and with others in what we reveal and how we reveal it. It's a book that shares a story worthy of being told, a story that had been lost to the ages and yet now a story we won't quickly forget. Alice DeLamar's life was mysterious, indeed, and I'm grateful to Nona Footz for at least lifting the veil on that mystery and bringing this most mysterious woman to life within these pages.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this fascinating new biography of Alice Delamar, readers discover the glamorous and unpredictable life of a wealthy American millionaire during the twentieth century. Determined to stay out of the public eye, she built tree-covered estates and mingled with the great minds of the century, keeping their secrets before occasionally kicking them off the premises . Footz, having learned about Alice from another biography, has spent the last decade looking through attics, archives, and cities in search of a rumored manuscript, but what she has actually uncovered is far more fascinating. Immersive, fascinating, and unpredictable, Alice’s story is complicated and full of amazing figures from the twentieth century. As other figures pop in and out of the story, readers discover what an amazing life Alice lived and the ways in which she interacted with the world around her. Footz’s research is particularly well done and comprehensive, and her insertion of herself into the narrative highlights the mystery surrounding Alice Delamar. Completely full of historical details and absolutely immersive, history fans and people interested in the twentieth century will absolutely love this compelling and unique biography of Alice Delamar from Nona Footz and the wonderfully intense and independent life she chose to live.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advance copy.