Book Review of
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

Lynn's Review

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post was published in 2022.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post is a historical fiction book about Marjorie Post, the daughter of C.W. Post. C.W. Post was the inventor and founder of Grape Nuts and Post Cereal. 

When C.W. Post died, Marjorie became the heir of the Post fortune. 

I bought this book when the ebook was on sale. I recently started reading it because I wanted a lighter historical fiction read. 

I enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about C.W. Post and the history of Post and cereal. It left me wanting to know about Marjorie Post and her family. 

Marjarie lived quite a life. Born shortly after the Civil War, she lived through WWI, The Great Depression, WWII, the assassination of President Kennedy, and many other historical events. 

She gave vast amounts of money to the Red Cross, especially during wartime. She donated her ship to be used during the war. She gave a lot of time and money to good causes. However, I found this book and the life of Marjorie Post, sad. Marjorie was a strong, opinionated, passionate woman. In many ways, that was good, but many times it also led to great sorrow. 

She was married and divorced four times. She often married quickly, only to realize later that she did not really know the man that she married. 

Those marriages and divorces brought her great pain and suffering. 

She was a woman of great wealth, and although she gave a lot of money to great causes, she lived lavishly and loved expensive things. Nothing is wrong with that, but the book often gave the impression that she lived for it. 

It was also hard for me to tell what was fact and what was fiction in this book, which is often the frustrating part of historical fiction for me. It is why I love great author’s notes at the end of historical fiction books. 

This book had author notes at the end. They were actually quite detailed, but the author didn’t give examples of where she added fiction to the story, which I know she must have done. 

So, although I enjoyed the writing, etc. in this book, it left me sad about Marjorie Posts life. 

I will say, though that I might just have to add her estate, which is now a museum, to my list of places to visit next time I visit the Washinton DC area.