Book Review for The Windsor Conspiracy: A Novel of the Crown, a Conspiracy, and the Duchess of Windsor by Georgie Blalock

 The Windsor Conspiracy: A Novel of the Crown, a Conspiracy, and the Duchess of Windsor by Georgie Blalock

Published July 16, 2024 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Taken from Goodreads:  Georgie Blalock, the acclaimed author of The Other Windsor Girl, delivers an enchantingly reimagined fictional portrait of Wallis Simpson through the lens of her cousin who is engaged to spy on the Duchess of Windsor for her alleged Nazi sympathies and finds much more than she bargained for!

American Amelia Montague defied her family five years ago to marry the man she loved, but that decision cost her everything. Disowned by her family, and left a penniless widow after her husband’s death, Amelia becomes her cousin Wallis Simpson’s private secretary in France. With no other prospects available, Amelia has no choice but to succeed, and under their Aunt Bessie’s direction, hopes to have a positive influence on Wallis and the Duke of Windsor.

During the next two years, Amelia realizes that not everything with the Windsors is glittering happiness. Beneath the façade of the besotted couple simmers Wallis’s rage at her stunted ambition, and the couple soon reveal themselves to be self-centered Nazi supporters who pursue their own interests at any cost.

When the Germans invade France, and the Windsors leave Amelia to escape the Gestapo on her own, Amelia finds herself in position to work for the most unlikely of employers: MI5 and the FBI. Convinced to work undercover, Amelia joins the Windsors in Nassau and soon realizes that Wallis’s treachery extends far deeper than the US and British government even knows…

Richly imaginative, Georgie Blalock’s novel stuns as it explores two women, opposites in every way, and the choices they make to survive both war and each other. . .

 

My Thoughts:  Holy… I know this is historical fiction but there is a lot of truth in the story.  Wallis Simpson is quite a character.  She has aspirations of being someone important and rich.  The lengths she goes to, the people she becomes friends with, and the people she does not become friends with all to get to where she wants to go.  I was amazed at how she lived her life.

The Windsor Conspiracy is the story of Wallis Simpson and her marriage to the abdicated King.  It is also a story of exiled royalty not accepting their place in the world.   I am not sure that Wallis ever figured out that her dream life is not her real life.   She seemed to live in her own world, not seeing how her choices made her life more difficult in the long run.

Georgie Blalock wrote a great book about the lesser known royal family members.   I cannot imagine how different the royal family would if she had become Queen. 

Thank you William Morrow for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):   Georgie Blalock is a history and movie buff who loves combining her different passions through historical fiction, and a healthy dose of period piece films. When not writing, she can be found prowling the non-fiction history section of the library or the British film listings on Netflix or in the dojo training for her next karate black belt rank. Georgie also writes historical romance under the name Georgie Lee.