Of course Hannah Rothschild’s biography of her great aunt Kathleen Annie Pannonica (Rothschild) de Koenigswarter would be fascinating, given its subject. Nica (as she was known) grew up surrounded by tremendous wealth, married then joined her husband fighting with the Free French forces during WWII. In the mid-1950s she settled in New York City, apart from her husband and four of her five children, and established herself as a fixture of the 52nd Street jazz scene. She drove a Bentley, wore fur coats, smoked cigarettes in long holders, and sat at her favorite table in the Five Spot with a Bible in front of her, hollowed out to hide a whiskey flask. Thelonious Monk called her his best friend. Charlie Parker died in her apartment. She took a marijuana rap in Delaware to keep Monk and Charlie Rouse out of jail. She arranged funerals for Sonny Clark and Coleman Hawkins, counted Art Blakey and Barry Harris as lovers, and impressed Archie Shepp with her courage and sense of justice. Others dismissed her as a trollop and an ostentatious groupie. Hannah Rothschild teases out much of what we can know about Nica, without sensationalism or judgment, and presents an exceptional account of an extraordinary life. ( )

An interesting biography. I'd like to know more about the Rothschilds today. ( )

For the first 100 pages, I would have ranked this book as three stars, and only then because it was historically interesting. After that, though, Hannah picks up the jazz and the real musical culture that drew Nica in, and I was hooked.

I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway, and I think I expected it to be more of a work of fiction. I'm not sure I knew what it was when I started.

It is a biography, and it reads as a biography. At times it's a bit tedious, but even though Nica's heart and soul may never be fully known, Hannah shows us a world that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. It's beautifully written, and I've learned so much from this book.

It takes a minute to really get into it, but I would definitely recommend this book. ( )

An interesting book about a woman who lived her life to the fullest, not following any conventions ( )

I liked the subtitle which sums up this biography - a Rothschild by birth, a baroness by marriage, a rebel by choice. Fascinating insight into the rise of the Rothschild family, unhappy childhoods, and the jazz scene in America that Nica chose to be a part of. ( )