Author of THE SIX: THE LIVES OF THE MITFORD SISTERS Laura Thompson's HEIRESSES: THE LIVES OF THE MILLION DOLLAR BABIES, examining the phenomenon of the heiress, from Christina Onassis to Patty Hearst, Mary Davies to Alice Silverthorne, telling their stories and considering why it is so hard to live with plenitude, as some heiresses succumbed to their fortune while others became patrons and built up their estates, to Charles Spicer at St. Martin's.