Reviewed by Tracy Ilene Miller

In Bugatti Queen, Miranda Seymour resurrects the forgotten life of Helene Delangle, a French race car driver who became a flamboyant international celebrity in the 1930s.  Delange, who was the fastest woman driver in the world in 1929 and the toast of the continent during the next decade, fell precipitously from grace after she was (falsely) accused of being a Gestapo agent.  Her legions of admirers and fans abandoned her, and her life “leaked away in obscurity.”  At the time biographer Seymour came on the scene, Delange’s legacy was reduced to boxes of moldering mementos dumped in the garage of the star racer’s last landlord.   

Because Seymour had only a limited supply of firsthand material to trace Delangle’s life, she enriches and builds this fascinating story in other ways. She provides fleshed out characterizations of the flamboyant entertainer’s wide circle of famous friends and lovers. The people Delangle often bedded or hobnobbed with are recognized even now, a veritable Who’s Who of the first half of the 20th century, including Phillip de Rothschild, Maurice Chevalier, and André Dubonnet. Seymour also masterfully sets Delangle’s life in a historical context, providing a wide-angle look at the political and social framework of her time.

In the Afterword, apologies are made to true racing car enthusiasts, “the experts,” for the parts Seymour leaves out -- minute details about the cars, the mechanics, and machine customization. But she includes so much about the races themselves that car enthusiasts will find it easy to forgive these few holes.  Biography enthusiasts, however, may be rattled by the author’s tendency to speculate in the absence of convincing – or even any – evidence.  At times this dims an otherwise vibrant and fascinating story of an intrepid, dazzling personality.