First published 2018
Alva Smith watches her Southern family lose everything after the Civil War. She marries William Vanderbilt, gaining access to immense wealth but discovering that New York's established families refuse to accept the newly rich Vanderbilts. Alva refuses to remain invisible. She commissions nine elaborate mansions and throws lavish parties to force her way into high society. She orchestrates her daughter's marriage to European nobility. But Alva's ambitions extend beyond social climbing. She challenges her husband's authority and joins the fight for women's voting rights. Her determination to reshape both her family's standing and women's place in society puts her at odds with everything expected of Gilded Age wives. Fowler captures the glittering excess of America's wealthiest era while exploring one woman's refusal to accept the limitations imposed on her.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, biographical-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: determined-heroine, fish-out-of-water, social-commentary
Setting: New York, South
Period: Civil War, Gilded Age
Paperback · St. Martin's Publishing Group