Yet Savannah had never been truly alone or even independent for any length of time.Growing up, she attended private schools and then a boarding school for young ladies in Switzerland.Summers were spent in such places as the Hamptons, Coral Gables, Maui, or the south of France and the Italian Riviera.Home base remained in Alexandria, Virginia, where the Winfield family dwelled rather comfortably in a 20-room, antebellum mansion.

At eighteen, Savannah came out as a debutante, able to ...