The Gilded Age was an interesting time period. David and I have been enjoying the television series by that name and are eagerly awaiting the next season. In the meantime, I’ve chosen a book set in that era for this month’s LWD Book Club – An American Beauty by Shana Abé.
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An American Beauty
by Shana Abé
1867, Richmond, Virginia: Though she wears the same low-cut purple gown that is the uniform of all the girls who work at Worsham’s gambling parlor, Arabella stands apart. It’s not merely her statuesque beauty and practiced charm. Even at seventeen, Arabella possesses an unyielding grit, and a resolve to escape her background of struggle and poverty.
Collis Huntington, railroad baron and self-made multimillionaire, is drawn to Arabella from their first meeting. Collis is married and thirty years her senior, yet they are well-matched in temperament, and flirtation rapidly escalates into an affair. With Collis’s help, Arabella eventually moves to New York, posing as a genteel, well-to-do Southern widow. Using Collis’s seed money and her own shrewd investing instincts, she begins to amass a fortune.
Their relationship is an open secret, and no one is surprised when Collis marries Arabella after his wife’s death. But “The Four Hundred”—the elite circle that includes the Astors and Vanderbilts—have their rules. Arabella must earn her place in Society—not just through her vast wealth, but with taste, style, and impeccable behavior. There are some who suspect the scandalous truth, and will blackmail her for it. And then there is another threat—an unexpected, impossible romance that will test her ambition, her loyalties, and her heart . . .
An American Beauty brings to vivid life the glitter and drama of a captivating chapter in history—and a remarkable woman who lived by her own rules.
Note: Many of us are doing our best to avoid purchasing from Amazon and a number of other large corporations, for a variety of reasons. I recommend checking your local library or purchasing books from local book stores if you have them in your area. If not, Bookshop.org is a great option.
More information about “The Gilded Age” historical time period:
Gilded Age – Fashion, Period and Definition
What Exactly Was the Gilded Age?
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
WHAT ARE YOU READING LATELY?
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Other LWD Book Club Selections:
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