An acidly funny account of the unholy alliance between eye-wateringly rich and socially ambitious American women and a clutch of impoverished British peers ... the extravagant ostentation that de Courcy serves up in her delectably gossip-filled book is of the sort that modern-day oligarchs still revere. Think fin-de-siecle trashy... Lively, shrewd and fresh as a gilded rose, de Courcy's book is her best yet. I can't wait to read it again Miranda Seymour THE DAILY TELEGRAPH