Tatiana Boncampagni Hoover, the social-lit author whose recently published Gilding Lily makes fun of but totally buys into the glamour of Manhattan socialites, sold a second novel, Hedge Fund Wives, to HarperCollins last week. But she really should have waited, and not just because “hedge-fund wives” will be about as glamorous as “hedge-trimmers’ wives” by the time the book comes out. Ironically, in the meantime, a far better story has developed around the author, whose official bio suggests she is married to an heir to the Hoover vacuum fortune and is the daughter of an Italian princess.
Yesterday, Tatiana sued her sister, Natasha Boncampagni, an out-of-work former hedge-funder, claiming Natasha sneaked into her computer, stole the manuscript, then copyrighted herself as a co-author of Hedge Fund Wives, which she wasn’t, according to Tatiana, though she admitted her sister “nevertheless occasionally provided ideas.” Yeah, like the whole thing, Natasha says in a response to the lawsuit on Cityfile today, that claims her sister tried to “buy her off” and challenges not only Tatiana’s authorship of the book but her entire identity:
My sister’s history of lying is a well-known fact both within our family and with her current publisher, HarperCollins: In order to get her first book, “Gilding Lily”, published, she lied to HarperCollins that our mother was an Italian Princess. Her editor at HarperCollins, Lucia Macro, was assigned specifically for her “Royal expertise” and their marketing efforts were centered upon this claim. However, when my sister’s fraudulent claim was challenged by the real Prince Boncompagni … she persuaded HarperCollins to drop this information from their website and marketing materials
And it gets better.
It must be noted that one of her remaining claims via HarperCollins marketing materials — that her husband (Max Hoover) is an heir to the Hoover vacuum cleaning fortune — is categorically false. Her husband’s family sold the company decades ago and no member of the family is a majority nor minority stockholder. It is a well-known fact that her husband’s father — “Bunker” Hoover — squandered the family’s fortune. His last remaining home in Nova Scotia was foreclosed upon this year and he is currently living at the home of his ex-wife (the actress Camilla Sparv) and his unemployed son (Bart Hoover).
The awesomest thing about this story is that so far, apparently both sisters are too dumb to realize that this is a much better book than anything they’ve come up with so far. Catfights? Manipulation? Squandered fortunes? A guy called “Bunker”? Please. Danielle Steel has made millions off this shit. If only Judith Regan were still at HarperCollins. She would set these ladies straight.
SIS FAMILY FEUD’S ONE FOR BOOKS [NYP]
Natasha Boncompagni Responds [Cityfile]
Related: Tatiana Boncompagni Thinks $1000 Is a Little Too Much to Spend on a Haircut
