"Journalist Janny Scott describes the world that shaped her father, Robert Montgomery Scott (whose mother, Helen Hope Scott, was said to have inspired Katherine Hepburn's character in the play and the film The Philadelphia Story), and provides a look at the weight of inheritance, the tenacity of addiction, and the power of buried secrets"-- Provided by publisher.

Land, houses, and money tumbled from one generation to the next on the eight-hundred-acre estate built by Scott's investment banker great-grandfather on Philadelphia's Main Line. Some beneficiaries flourished, like Scott's grandmother, Helen Hope Scott, a socialite and celebrated horsewoman. For others, such as Helen's son, Robert Montgomery Scott, the impact was more complex. In struggling to understand her father's puzzling end, Scott provides an incisive look at the weight of inheritance, the tenacity of addiction, and the power of buried secrets. -- adapted from jacket