New York native Allison Pataki’s newest novel, “The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post,” is her sixth work of historical fiction. The novel covers Post’s youth in Battle Creek, Michigan, to her move to New York City to become one of the richest women in the world. 
 
Pataki explained the title of her novel.

“Marjorie Merriweather Post lived so many different lives over the course of her 80 years. You have this woman who was a leader in business, was a trailblazer when it came to women's roles in society, and within the family. You had a woman who had four very different, very dramatic love stories,” Pataki said. “And ultimately, I think the most profound story and love story of her life was her coming into her own and falling in love with her own voice, her own identity, her own power.”

Post’s father was C.W. Post. He founded the company that became General Foods. Marjorie inherited the empire, yet she did not have the same rights as men to run the company.

Still, Pataki said she became a trailblazing leader of the 20th Century.

“If Marjorie posts were alive today, we'd probably all want to vote for her for president,” Pataki said. "She didn't have the right to sit on the board; she didn't have the right to run the company. And the tragedy of that is that she was so much more competent and capable than most of the men around her. And she found ways to lead. She was never a woman who was going to be satisfied, sticking to the role of coddled society, wife and hostess.”

Post died in 1973. She accomplished much during her 87 years as a businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.

She brought her father’s company to New York City, enhanced the business, and made millions.

“Marjorie Merriweather Post’s story is a New York story,” Pataki said. “She really lived this glitzy glamorous New York lifestyle. She had these great New York City homes. She had an epic triplex on the Upper East Side. She hung out in this New York glitterati scene, was hanging out with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald and was hanging out, you know, with the Carnegie's and the Rockefellers and just New York sort of high society. She loved New York, she was so happy in New York. Those are some of the best years of her life.”

“The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post” is available now.