The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post: A Novel

When the novel opens, Marjorie Merriweather Post is presented to readers at the height of her social clout, but without a husband, a fact indicated by the use of her maiden name. She sees herself as a kingmaker, clearly having hosted presidential families before. Marjorie rules an otherworldly domain—Lady Bird Johnson notes, “Every time I step into one of your homes, it’s like I’ve stepped into some beautiful Neverland” (10). Marjorie has come to this sense of empowerment and social capital over the course of the novel, forging an influential role in a society that has greatly changed since her birth in 1887, partly due to her actions and those of other women.

Charles William and Ella Post involve Marjorie in major decisions and conversations starting in childhood. For instance, she is allowed to remain in the room during Dr. Kellogg’s meeting about Charles William’s poor health, a fact that surprises him into asking, “And…the girl…she can stay for this?” (24). As a result, Marjorie gains a sense of her own importance. However, she knows that despite “all Papa’s talk of raising me to be strong and educated, we had always known a man would have to someday run the company, and I had always believed that man would be my husband” (132). She is born into a world in which women cannot head major corporations or run their boards; while her family’s wealth and status will protect her from many catastrophes, barring drastic action, she will never be able to fully use her entrepreneurial instincts, knowledge, and talents.

Eventually, however, Marjorie discards this way of thinking. After getting a taste of working directly at Post Cereal Company while her first husband Ed serves in World War I, Marjorie is dissatisfied with returning to the domestic sphere when he comes back. Although Ed is scornful of her tastes, her willingness to be publicly active in politics, and her refusal to simply submit to his decisions, Marjorie dreams of roles for her daughters beyond what was available to her as a young woman. Later, readers see her business acumen when she suggests acquiring Birdseye’s frozen food company—a savvy move to expand into a new market that her second husband Ned dismisses, seeing the business as his domain and bitter that she wants to participate. Tired of working through resentful husbands or going behind their backs, Marjorie finally pushes for a seat on the board for herself. This shows Marjorie’s transformation into a woman who values her talent and insists on her rights as the heir to the Post family fortune and company.

Marjorie also utilizes her position as a woman to wield political and social power. She transforms domestic spaces—traditionally allotted to women—into places in which political decisions that affect the fate of the world are made. Her lavish parties and charitable fundraisers have real effects, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for those in need during both World Wars and the Great Depression. She uses her hospitality prowess to open public kitchens: “Gone were my banquets of gold and mahogany; now I fixed my exacting hostess’s eyes on every detail in that canteen” (218). Finally, when her third husband Joe is posted to the USSR as ambassador, she helps the cause of diplomacy through her event-planning and charm. Marjorie finds a way to carve out a way for a woman to be a leader while maintaining expected gender norms: femininity, domesticity, and grace.