Unfortunately, this thread ends soon after the conflict is introduced, and it isn’t fleshed out as well as the rest of the book. The story picks up steam with the family’s search for their wealthy relative and its aftermath. As Clark aged, her family became concerned that her gifts were not necessarily voluntary and went looking for her. She spent money seemingly without thinking, giving away tens of millions of dollars to friends and employees, even selling off prized possessions to do so.

She chose to live in seclusion after her mother’s death and then lived out the last few decades of her life in a hospital, despite being healthy.

Clark was certainly eccentric, and her decisions, both financial and otherwise, definitely capture the imagination. After an introduction to Clark’s fortune, Dedman moves his focus to her lifestyle and pursuits, always following the money. Here, with the assistance of Huguette’s cousin Newell, the author expands his search for information about the heiress who disappeared from public view in the 1980s-though she lived for another three decades. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Dedman stumbled onto her tale and wrote a series of stories about the Clark family, their fortune and the mystery surrounding Huguette. At her death, she was estimated to be worth-incorrectly, as it turned out-about $500 million. Huguette Clark (1906–2011) lived for more than a century and never once wanted for money. An investigation into the secretive life of the youngest daughter and heiress to a Gilded Age copper tycoon.

Empty mansions dedman