The Heiress of One of America’s Wealthiest Families Tells All

Inside a Bitter Dynasty

By Catherine D. Anspon // Sep 21, 2016

A fabled family, great wealth and privilege, a tragic childhood, repressive and unhappy marriages, and bitter dynastic power struggles — such is the plot in Doubleday heiress Neltje’s unflinching autobiography, North of Crazy: A Memoir (St. Martin’s Press, $25.99), which debuts this fall. Tell-all volumes by other blue bloods (Brooke Hayward, Sean Wilsey) may come to mind, but that’s only part of this story.

Neltje — the granddaughter of Frank Nelson Doubleday, founder of the publishing empire — is an artist/philanthropist/steward of nature and preservation who’s made an impact in an unlikely place: the state of Wyoming. There she’s carved out a space reminiscent of Donald Judd’s role in Marfa.

Neltje (PHOTO COURTESY DAVID SCHREIBER) — Neltje (Photo courtesy David Schreiber)

Neltje will be signing books in Houston at Bayou Bend Visitor’s Center with PaperCity’s Curate Books on Tuesday, October 4, 6 to 8 pm (6:30 pm reading), then at Georgia Brown Home (books available at the event) on Wednesday, October 5, 10 to 11:30 am; these signings are free, but reservations are required through rsvp@papercitymag.com (please specify which signing you would like to attend). She will also sign books at Brazos Bookstore on Wednesday, October 5, 7 to 8:30 pm (no RSVP required).

Also in October print magazine, watch for our PaperCity exclusive: an eye-opening visit with Neltje in her Wyoming home. Then catch her in Austin at Texas Book Festival on Saturday, November 5.