A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts

By Therese Anne Fowler

Book Overview

The New York Times and USA Today bestseller

The New York Times bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald returns with a riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York.

Alva Smith, her southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America's great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Ignored by New York's old-money circles and determined to win respect, she designed and built nine mansions, hosted grand balls, and arranged for her daughter to marry a duke. But Alva also defied convention for women of her time, asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the women's suffrage movement.

With a nod to Jane Austen and Edith Wharton and for fans of HBO's hit show The Gilded Age, A Well-Behaved Woman depicts a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman. Meet Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, living proof that history is made by those who know the rules--and how to break them.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250095484
• ISBN13: 9781250095480
• Release Date: October 2019
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent story of a woman before her time

This book I read before The Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper. I’d recommend this one first since you can understand The family history better and Alva Vanderbilt was such a great model.