Star-crossed lovers are iconic in opera but rarely are their stories true.

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In the summer of 1928, a society girl, resigned to a proper marriage, met a charismatic man, the black sheep in an American financial dynasty. He called her his Fire Princess and swept her into his reckless lifestyle. In the winter of 1929 her double life was upended in a single afternoon. Just as Juliet could not live without Romeo, Josephine could not live without Harry. She chose to die rather than return to a life without him.

Double suicide? Or murder suicide?  It was an unsolved mystery that played nationwide and lingered on the front page for a week. He had lived spontaneously and dangerously and, to many, his death was not a surprise.
But who was she if not a proper Boston bride?