North Of Crazy

Imagine a world of Gatsby-esque glamor, opulence, and cultural prestige, of exclusive parties and elegant dinners, of literary luminaries including Somerset Maugham, Daphne du Maurier, Irving Stone, and Theodore Roethke, of Manhattan townhouses and country estates. A world where children are raised by nannies, tutors, chauffeurs, gardeners, butlers, maids, and assorted staff, sent off to private schools-and largely ignored by their parents.

Publishing magnate Nelson Doubleday's daughter, Neltje was raised to assume her place as a society matron. But beneath a seemingly idyllic childhood, darker currents ran: a colorful but alcoholic father whose absences left holes, a mother incapable of love, a family divided by money and power struggles, and a secret that drove the young woman into emotional isolation.

In North of Crazy, Neltje tells the story of her young life, and how she broke away to become an artist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Poignant, witty, sharply observed, and candid on every page, North of Crazy follows one wealthy girl's conventional path-until she jumped the tracks to find a remote, beautiful, and completely individual way of her own.