As others have said, this is a hard book to get into. Instead of reading like a biography, it reads like an encyclopedia. Instead of sacrificing a modicum of well-researched detail, we are treated to everything ever known about Nancy Cunard. And then... and then... and then. If you're looking for a thoroughly researched biography about a woman with an interesting life, you will like this book. If you're looking for a story to bring you closer to an intriguiing historical character, you may find yourself struggling.

An immensely entertaining and informative portrait of Nancy Cunard and her circle, even if it’s tough to truly like the principal subject of the book.


Nancy, while certainly on the right side of history ideologically, quickly presents as one of those people who confuses personal freedom with a license to act like an asshole to anyone close to her. While it’s easy to admire her positions on ethics and politics as well as her own attempts to contribute personally to the cause, I wouldn’t have wanted to know her and can’t truly say I admire her character when she spent most of her life mistreating those around her.

That said, her story is an interesting one populated by a host of interesting figures, many already familiar to the educated reader, others finally getting their due.

While it’s easy and probably appropriate to dismiss Nancy as a cruel, spoiled twit at least on some level, she certainly made positive contributions to her world and proves an intriguing if deeply flawed central character.

What a fun and interesting history of a complex figure! Nancy Cunard was not a person I was familiar with before listing to this audiobook, but the title of the biography caught my attention.

Cunard was quite a pioneer, from her unorthodox style and lifestyle at the time to her relationships with and advocacy for several African American artists of the time. I found her history to be quite interesting and enjoyed this audiobook.

I found the narration to be a bit monotonous and boring, but the history is interesting enough to keep anyone listening. Thanks to Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

I knew nothing of Nancy Cunard when I started this book, but I enjoy biographies and it intrigued me. I love history and I learned a lot in this book. Nancy was a British writer, heiress, and political activist. While she was born with many privileges, she devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. With a long-harrowed list of relationships to her credit, she was ahead of her time as an independent woman who never married.

Well written but with a factual, clinical vibe. I enjoyed the audiobook as a lesson in history.

This was well written and pretty interesting. Rosy Armitage did a great job narrating. I think this will go over really well with lovers of The Great Gatsby.

Nancy Cunard is someone I have never heard of and I am so thankful to have come upon this memoir to meet such a vivacious character. She was quite an incredible woman, well ahead of her time. Standing up for women’s rights and that of black men and women who she freely spent time with without hesitation which I imagine was shocking in the early 1900s, even in Europe.

Her story is both romantic and tragic but an adventure nonetheless

Thoroughly researched and organized, Anne de Courcy does a phenomenal job at exploring the life of Nancy Cunard. Born to selfish parents who barely acknowledged her existences and raised by an ultra-strict governess, Nancy Cunard's story could also be called, "Just because you're rich, doesn't mean you're happy."

Nancy didn't not have a happy life, and her focus was solely on herself and her own selfishness. When she wasn't thinking about herself she was drinking. The group of people she surrounded herself were more or less the same, and while it made her biography an interesting read, I definitely didn't envy her.

For the lovers of history, people and psychology---this book is for you!

Thank you SMP for gifting me an ARC to review.

It took me some time to listen to this, but I'm glad I made it through. I'd never heard of Nancy Cunard before, but love the era she lived in and was intrigued by the description of the book. I loved learning about her and the people she surrounded herself with. Incredible how every man was so in love with her, but there is certainly nothing to envy as far as her love life is concerned! Overall, this was an interesting listen but I think the interested audience is limited.

Overall, Nancy’s story is just so sad, this book was kind of depressing at times. But it was well-researched and I liked the audio narration and Paris in the 20’s is one of my favorite eras to read about. If you’re into that time period and location as well, you’ll probably enjoy this one. Nancy’s interest in the black population and her political activism were really interesting as well, even though in the end she mostly came across as a shallow, spoiled addict. I do feel that Magnificent Rebel successfully portrayed her interests outside of sex and alcohol. The hardcover copy is beautiful and I especially liked the photos.

Magnificent Rebel is the story of Nancy Cunard and the years she lived in Paris. It reads like a Who's Who of Parisian ex-Pat glitterati and some French artists thrown in. I think we are meant to read the book as her rebellion against her bourgeois upbringing, especially her mother. I may have been thrown by the narrator. At first, I thought the narrator was a perfect choice but by a quarter of the way through the book, I found her voice, which never sounded excited or upset but stayed monotone (probably very English) throughout, to be boring and monotonous.
In the end, this was another story of a beautiful rich girl caught up by jazz-age Paris but never involving herself much with the French. We are reminded that her obsession became all things Africa but that is another book. There was nothing especially different about Nancy's story that we don't already know.
If you like biographies, you may enjoy this.

This is a really interesting book. The author does such a wonderful job of pulling you into the world of Nancy. I felt as if I was watching in person as a wealthy, elite, beautiful lady literally destroys herself and those around her. It’s a great read!