JOSEPHINE MCKENNA

books

THE VANISHING

A gripping true crime story uncovering the mysterious disappearance of Jeannette Rothschild—the glamorous wife of Evelyn de Rothschild—who rose from poverty to become a Vogue model before marrying into one of the world’s wealthiest and most politically powerful families.

Forty years ago, Jeannette vanished alongside her translator, Gabriella Guerin, during a brutal snowstorm in a remote Italian mountain village. Their bodies were discovered months later by wild boar hunters reduced to bones and tattered clothing, with only Jeannette’s Cartier bracelet still recognizable.

The case went cold, but now, after decades, the Italian police’s Terrorism Task Force has reopened the investigation. Journalist Jo McKenna, who has spent years researching the disappearance, has gathered an unparalleled archive of interviews with witnesses and those who saw Rothschild in the days before she vanished into thin air.

What really happened that night in the snow? Was it simply hypothermia or was Jeannette silenced because of what she knew? Did her position within one of the world’s most powerful dynasties place her in danger?

From Brazil’s gem mines to Swiss bank vaults to whispered secrets within Buckingham Palace, this book evokes the intrigue and atmosphere of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and In Cold Blood, blended with the high-society tension of Bonfire of the Vanities. Think The Swans meets the chilling uncertainty of the Madeline McCann case.

Selling on proposal.

The completed book will be delivered within 8 months of contract signing.

The author has an extensive collection of archival and newly obtained photographs.

Film/TV rights handled by Emily Hayward Whitlock at The Artists Partnership.