From the 1920s through the 1940s, the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes was the heart of the Riviera, a place for glamorous people who partied, bed-hopped, and politicked with abandon. At the heart of it all, Mary Lovell reveals, was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a Connecticut fisherman. Building the art deco Château, this tireless entrepreneur, actress, and celebrity magnet brought together Noel Coward, Rita Hayworth, the Aga Khan, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and a very saucy courtesan who proved to be a dangerous distraction to Winston Churchill during his stint as a journalist.

"Ostensibly the biography of one mansion … becomes a history not just of this playground of the rich but of the changing currency of money, beauty, and fame."—NYTBR