Though she came from a country known for its wealthy eccentrics and lived during a time when such types flourished, "Joe" Carstairs, the cross-dressing lesbian powerboat-enthusiast heiress from England, still managed to stand out in the jet-set society of the Jazz Age. As interesting as that is, it's just as interesting to read Kate Summerscale's argument, in this slim biography, that Carstairs was as much a representative of her era as she was an anomaly. Carstairs was sexually ambiguous in a time of sexual ambiguity, an enthusiast of fast cars and faster boats as soon as they were invented, and a colonialist whose tiny island kingdom declined as the sun finally set on the British Empire. As a tattooed powerboat racer who wore men's clothing exclusively and set the water-speed record for women, Carstairs achieved a minor sort of fame among the public at large. But those who knew her well—and she counted Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead among her friends and lovers—knew how truly eccentric she was. For example, Carstairs directed a good deal of energy toward the care of Lord Tod Wadley, a leather doll who seldom left her side, and whom she doted over like a child. Just as interesting as her professional career were the years Carstairs spent as the more or less benevolent dictator of Whale Cay, a Caribbean island she owned. Run with a combination of condescension, good intentions, and prejudice, Whale Cay under Carstairs was like the British colonial experience writ small, right down to the choirboy-molesting priest. Carstairs was largely forgotten when Summerscale came across her death notice as the editor of The Daily Telegraph's obituary pages. But what information was available was enough to prompt this book, and Summerscale emerged at the end with a fascinating portrait, an example of how overlooked lives can reflect the world around them in ways not apparent until much later.