There was Once a Time

Anne-Marie Rasmussen grew up on an island in the North Sea and left Norway for Manhattan in 1956, at the age of eighteen. Speaking only a few words of English, she nevertheless found prompt employment as a domestic servant in Nelson Rockefeller's household. Exactly three years later, in a village church on the Norwegian mainland, Anne-Marie was married to one of Nelson's sons, Steven Clark Rockefeller. Her memoir relates fourteen years of events before and after a wedding that captured the imagination of the world. Cinderella stories do not necessarily end happily--in fact, Anne-Marie's and Steven's courtship was periodically troubled, and their marriage, though it produced a son and two daughters, proved difficult and stormy, and ended in divorce. The author tells her story simply and with total candor. Here are fascinating glimpses of life among the Rockefellers--in their apartment on Fifth Avenue, at Seal Harbor, Maine, and in the great enclave at Pocantico Hills. The portraits of Nelson Rockefeller and of his first wife are drawn with admiration and affection. And a high point of the book deals with Anne-Marie's active role in Nelson's second bid for the presidency. This memoir portrays the intense relationship of two exceptional human beings, very different from each other, who ultimately found that neither love nor good will nor earnest endeavor could surmount their barriers between them.--Adapted from book jacket.