title: The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice: The Stories of Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim
author:  Judith Mackrell 
description: <em>The Unfinished Palazzo</em> tells the stories of notoriously eccentric women: the Marchesa Luisa Casati, from Milan, a champion exhibitionist who considered her life (and especially her person) to be a work of art; Doris, Lady Castlerosse, an Englishwoman whose lovers included both Winston Churchill and his son, Randolph; and finally [Peggy] Guggenheim, the American art patron who bequeathed the mansion to her family's foundation as a museum of modern art.  Their life stories are flashy, a kaleidoscope of bad marriages, bad divorces, Fortuny dresses, outlandish costume parties, fashionable portraits, excessive champagne, famous lovers, pickup lovers, alienated children and overlapping celebrity acquaintances.  In more enlightened times these women might have had solid accomplishmentsbut Mackrell's documentation of their relentless self-absorption and unfiltered vanity argues against it.<br /> - <strong><em>The New York Times Book Review</em></strong><br /><br />Skillfully weaves historical details into absorbing biographical profiles while also capturing the charm of Venice Mackrell explores [the] eventful lives [of] three remarkable women [who] differed in many ways, but points out their similarities in motivation, independence, daring unconventionality, and historic roles in Venice and social culture. Her astute commentary is particularly illuminating, enlarging the reader's understanding of these individuals and the larger framework of their worlds. Well-chosen photographs and comprehensive notes and bibliography enhance the volume.<br /> - <strong><em>Library Journal</em></strong><br /><br />Thoughtful, gracefully written and engaging Like Paris, Venice is a subject rife with clich. Ms. Mackrell sidesteps this pitfall by focusing on one tiny part of the city. By book's end, the complexly fated, much-altered Venier comes to seem a mirror of its occupants. Self-realization is often bound up with real estate, and rarely more so than at the <em>palazzo non finito</em>.<br /> - <strong><em>The Wall Street Journal</em></strong><br /><br />A breathtaking social portrait, peeling the glitter from privileged lives even as it fleshes out the spectacle they created.<br /> - <strong><em>The Washington Post</em></strong>
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  ![The Venice Atonement by Merryn
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  ## Chapter One
  
  
  ### Venice, September, 1955.
  
  
  Nancy bounced from her chair and stood at the front of the gilded box, her
  hands raised in salute. She had never heard anything so beautiful, so sublime.
  The soaring strains of Puccini had wrung from her a myriad of emotions and she
  clapped on, ignoring the tears trickling down her cheeks, longing to share the
  moment. Leo should be here, not left at the palazzo, wrestling with words.
  Theirs had been an unconventional wedding, it was true, a rushed ceremony to
  keep her safe, but they were only days into their honeymoon and a box at the
  opera had been a special treat.
  
  
  She had known something was wrong when Leo returned from the conference early.
  He’d been full of apologies – he wasn’t going to