I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise Audiobook By Mac Griswold cover art

I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise

A Life of Bunny Mellon

Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise

By: Mac Griswold
Narrated by: Christa Lewis
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Bunny Mellon, whose life was marked by astonishing good fortune as well as tragedy and scandal, remains a singular figure in the annals of American design. She had her finger on the pulse of American culture and possessed a rare sense of style and grace. Her most celebrated work—the White House Rose Garden—demonstrated how formal restraint and the sparing use of color could be deployed to maximal effect.

In I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise, Mac Griswold—who knew Mellon personally—delves into her subject's closely-guarded personal archives to construct an unrivaled portrait of a woman as complex and multifaceted as the gardens and homes on which she left her mark. This book explores the tension between Mellon's idea of herself as a "poor little rich girl" and her own enterprising spirit. Mellon tested the anodyne 1950s model of woman as-wife-as-mother by getting a divorce, admitting candidly to her first husband that she wanted a richer one. She imperiously traded old friends for new, and ultimately used her reputation, her connections, and above all her money to help fund John Edwards's short-lived presidential campaign.

How Mellon's character, style, and taste developed together to produce her greatest accomplishments—private and public—is the real subject of this biography.

©2022 Mac Griswold (P)2022 Tantor
Americas Gardening & Horticulture United States Women Gardening Marriage
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
All stars
Most relevant  
The perfect narration for this epic biography of Bunny Mellon. It wasn’t a word too
long! What a treat to hear Christ’s Lewis speak French with a Loire Valley accent - I am told the purest spoken French is from that region!
Mac Griswold’s biography shows a deep dive into primary sources as well as and first hand knowledge of and love and admiration for Bunny Mellon. I read it while gardening in Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA. There were times which made it a Zen experience. Bravo to author and reader!!

Great pairing of author &reader produced engrossing biography of brilliant, self educated, disciplined, romantic, rich American

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book is a missed opportunity for an engrossing read. Most big scenes are all tell and no show. The author says Bunny Mellon was “no wit” and that is reflected on every page. Melon’s relationship with art reads like a catalogue raisonné. So many anecdotes are out of chronological order the book lacks a narrative thread. Very little insight and instead quotes from Mellon’s friends’ biographies. The voice of the reader is nice to listen to.

Some sparks on a mostly dull account

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Interesting subject but the book is shallow and thinly reported. I wish I'd skipped this one.

Poorly written

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.