Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2020
240 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination, the story behind a beloved pseudonymous Twitter account reveals how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living.
Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media. Fans around the world are drawn to Her Grace's voice, her wit, her life-affirming love for all humanity, and the fun and friendship of the community that's sprung up around her.
@DuchessGoldblat (81-year-old literary icon, author of An Axe to Grind) brought people together in her name: in bookstores, museums, concerts, and coffee shops, and along the way, brought real friends home—foremost among them, Lyle Lovett.
"The only way to be reliably sure that the hero gets the girl at the end of the story is to be both the hero and the girl yourself." - Duchess Goldblatt
"[The author has] created a long-term fever dream of humor, compassion, wordplay, and dog photos. A fascinating memoir by a 21st-century original." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Surely you follow Duchess Goldblatt on Twitter? If not, do yourself a favor and hit that button to subscribe to her delightful musings. In Becoming Duchess Goldblatt, the Duchess' real-life anonymous creator writes about crafting one of Twitter's (if not the Internet's) best accounts and healing herself in the process." - Real Simple
"After reading this unforgettable memoir, I figured out who Duchess Goldblatt is: all of us. Behind her brilliantly witty and uplifting message is a remarkable vulnerability and candor that reminds us that we are not alone in our struggles—and that we can, against all odds, get through them. As though casting a magic spell on her readers, she moves, inspires, and connects us through her unvarnished humanity. It was, for this therapist, a form of therapy I didn't know I needed." - Lori Gottlieb, New York Times-bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
"This book is, like Duchess Goldblatt herself, nothing you expect and everything you need. It's a memoir not just of one life (failures and triumphs laid bare) but also of a second self—its creation, its evolution, its improbable splendor. We may never deserve Duchess Goldblatt and her magnanimity, but her inventor most certainly does." - Rebecca Makkai, author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers
"What an unexpected marvel of a book, funny and poignant and—dare I say—sweet. It's fashionable to bash social media, but without it, we wouldn't have Duchess and that would be a damn shame." - Laura Lippman, New York Times-bestselling author of Lady in the Lake and Sunburn
"The question I am most often asked by readers out in the world, is, 'Who is Duchess Goldblatt?' The correct answer is, 'She is the Universe's secret admirer, a made-up & hilarious octogenarian who lives on Twitter, who delivers love and demands it in equal, astonishing measure.' What they mean is: what's her real identity? This book does not precisely reveal that. Instead it's the actual memoir of a fictional person, a meditation on what it means to start again in the oddest way possible. It is also heartbreaking, funny, gorgeously written, surprising, brilliant, profound, the book only Duchess Goldblatt herself could have written." - Elizabeth McCracken, bestselling author of Bowlaway and The Giant's House
This information about Becoming Duchess Goldblatt was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Duchess Goldblatt, 81, is the inspirational author of An Axe to Grind; Feasting on the Carcasses of My Enemies: A Love Story; and the heartwarming meditation on mothers and daughters Not If I Kill You First. A cultural icon, trophy ex-wife, friend to all humanity, and sponsor of the prestigious Goldblatt Prize in Fiction, she lives in Crooked Path, NY. She's fictional but her love is real.
Anonymous, the real-life person in whose mind Duchess Goldblatt lives and flourishes, has gathered all available truth and beauty for these pages. There's nothing else to give.
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