The Shadow Queen: A Novel of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Dean’s mechanical retread of Wallis Simpson’s life focuses on the famous divorcée prior to her relationship with King Edward. This unusual choice offers an opportunity to unpack Wallis’s transformation into the kind of woman who could sway a king to abdicate, but the book consists mostly of biographical recitation. Wallis is a disaster from the get-go: her father’s early death and her mother’s immaturity make Wallis a charity case, dependent on her wealthy uncle’s capricious cruelty. When Wallis’s personality does emerge, it is in unpleasant ways: demanding her uncle finance her debutante season, and courting friendships solely to get closer to Edward. When WWI derails her debutante season and her beau marries her best friend, Wallis weds an abusive pilot. Dean (The Palace Circle) spends an exhausting amount of time recounting Wallis’s childhood and first marriage, which leaves her rushing through the divorce, Wallis’s time in China, an affair, and her second marriage. When Wallis finally captures Edward’s attention at the end of the novel, it is the sad triumph of predator over prey. Agent: Sheila Crowley, Curtis Brown. (Aug.)