What an interesting person, life and an interesting book. The person is Joe Carstairs but she was named Marion at birth but decided on Joe growing up. She was born in 1900 into a wealthy family--grandfather was part of Rockefeller's Standard Oil initial investors. She was basically an out lesbian with some transgender/cross dressing too. She married once for inheritance purposes and soon divorced. During WWI she drove ambulances and trucks and then continued to do so in Ireland during fighting there. Then back to France to help in cleanup after the war. She found lifelong friends, started a bus type business with them and then inherited a lot of money. She took up boat racing and won many races & had speed records. She eventually left England when being a lesbian was no longer being okay and bought an island in the Bahamas--Whale Cay. There she built up the island and the people living there all while living a sort of outlandish life. She had many lovers and kept photos of them--some included in the book. She was basically the ruler of her island. Things changed in the 1960s and she was getting older and not able to stay on top of it so sold it and moved to Miami. She had a stuffed doll of a boy--Lord Tod Wadley that she just adored and was of great importance to her her whole adult life. Really my little writeup does not do justice to this book. Also I don't think this book probably does justice to Joe Carstairs life--the author didn't know her and did an exceptional job of putting this together but I can't imagine what parts of her life were lost. Just a really interesting and enjoyable read.
This one is a keeper for me. I might loan out to friends hoping to get back.
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