Dynasties: A Family Dynasty Omnibus

Virginia Cowles’ bestselling family dynasty novels are collected here together in this special edition.


THE ROTHSCHILDS

Perhaps no other name in history can so truly encapsulate the phrase “rags to riches” as Rothschild does.


From their beginnings in a Frankfurt ghetto, the dazzlingly rich and downright extraordinary members of the Rothschild family were the force responsible for innovations in banking throughout the nineteenth century.


Kings and princes, generals and businessmen, whether their move was political or economic, in a time of war or a time of peace, the controlling force behind them would be the Rothschild family.


THE ASTORS

When twenty-year-old John Jacob Astor arrived in Baltimore in 1783, his ambition was to live comfortably from the sale of musical instruments.


At his death in 1848, he was the richest man in America — he ruled over an empire and had founded a dynasty. Today’s generation of Astors, still wealthy, lead influential but less flamboyant lives than their predecessors — as modest businessmen, horse breeders, playboys, philanthropists, novelists.


Through five generations, in all their splendour, in a richly anecdotal narrative interwoven with paintings, drawings, and photographs making vivid the people, their mansions, their rise to social prominence in the United States and in England, here then are The Astors.


THE ROMANOVS

For over 300 years, the Romanov family ruled over Russia.


Its glittering Tsars and Tsarinas were autocratic despots, who between them embraced all the vices (and too few of the virtues) of absolute rulers until the February Revolution, when 18 family members were killed by the Bolsheviks and the remaining 47 exiled.


From the nymphomaniac Catherine to the doomed Nicholas II, last of the Tsars, the Romanov name has become a byword for excess, avarice and cruelty, they have aroused intrigue and horror in equal measure.


Praise for Virginia Cowles


‘Recounted at great speed, and with splendid life, vigour and readability’ – Antonia Fraser, Evening Standard


Virginia Spencer Cowles OBE was a noted American journalist, biographer, and travel writer. During her long career, Cowles went from covering fashion, to covering the Spanish Civil War, the turbulent period in Europe leading up to World War II, and the entire war. After the war, she published a number of critically acclaimed biographies of historical figures.