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Ecco
April 2013
On Sale: April 16, 2013
272 pages
ISBN: 0062207938
EAN: 9780062207937
Kindle: B0089LOEW2
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Memoir
Alexandra Aldrich, direct descendant of Old New York
aristocracies the Astors and the Livingstons, grew up in the
ancestral mansion in the Hudson River Valley. But any
notions of Gilded Age wealth and splendor are quickly
dispelled in her candid memoir,THE ASTOR ORPHAN
— for Aldrich's Grey Gardens–esque childhood was
marked by a life of genteel poverty at Rokeby, the crumbling
43–room edifice she and the eccentric family called
home. Bohemian pursuits and what she calls the
"undisciplined, orphaned spirit" which governed the house
took precedence over gainful employment, even as the
ancestral property deteriorated around them. Alexandra's father, uncle, and aunt were the three heirs to
Rokeby, built in 1815 on 450 prime acres along the Hudson
River. Furnished with antiques, heirlooms, and art, the
mansion continues to evoke its glorious past, but its upkeep
has strapped each succeeding generation. "To keep the house
as it was then," Aldrich writes, "we sacrifice any resources
that might have been invested in current generations. In
return, the house gives each of us—the impoverished
descendants—an identity. And we live off the remains
of our ancestral grandeur." As a shy, intelligent ten–year–old, young
Alexandra craved nothing more than a "normal" life in a
three–bedroom ranch house with cable TV and reliable
central heating. Instead, she lived with her father and
mother in what were formerly the servant's quarters on
Rokeby's third floor without heat or regular meals.. Her
father, who attended Harvard, had foregone a traditional
career path to become the overseer of the estate. He spent
his days tinkering with farm machinery while her mother,
originally from Poland, pursued her artistic aspirations. In
a nearby part of the house, Alexandra's two younger cousins
lived with their more conventional, decidedly
better–off parents. The two family branches wavered
between tension and affectionate solidarity. Alexandra's grandmother lived in a converted garage on the
estate, and despite a troubling battle with alcoholism,
provided the only consistent financial and emotional support
for Alexandra, paying for her violin lessons and ferrying
her to church in an aging lemon–yellow Plymouth.
Alexandra was privy to her grandmother's chronic despair
over her eldest son's failure to provide for his family, and
the friction between them often escalated into
full–blown war. When Alexandra's father dared to
flagrantly entertain his French mistress on the property,
the family's already frayed bonds weakened. As she grew
older, Alexandra yearned to escape the drama and the
despair, but Rokeby continued to exert its hold on her psyche. While chronicling Aldrich's own strained childhood and need
to make order out of chaos,THE ASTOR ORPHAN also
reaches back to the glory days of her ancestors. It is a
story populated by wealth and influence. The Astors, the
Roosevelts (both Theodore and Franklin), "Battle Hymn" poet
Julia Ward Howe, statesmen Hamilton Fish and Samuel Ward,
architect Stanford White—all play a role in the
celebrated history of Rokeby.
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