My mother, or as I like to call her “The Wonderful Book Giver,” lent me this book over the long 4th of July holiday weekend. Usually I will read whatever she does because she has excellent taste in books and most everything else, but I was hesitant. It looked like some kind of summer romance novel, and, well, I’m just not a big fan. But, in deference to her, I opened it up. I turned to the first page and read an entry from Titled Americans, A List of American Ladies Who Have Married Foreigners of Rank, 1890, and I was hooked.
Set during the late nineteenth century, The American Heiress captures the excesses of this time perfectly. The American nouveau riche (immensely wealthy American magnates) threw lavish parties, built huge mansions, bought extravagant wardrobes and generally aspired to be the gentry of America. Gild is the thin veneer of gold over a lesser metal, and Mark Twain coined the term “Gilded Age” to describe this particular era due to the fact that underneath all the beauty and luxury is the unscrupulous business practice of making huge profits off of the poor man’s sweat, blood and tears.
Based on the life of Consuelo Vanderbilt who married into British aristocracy, Goodwin’s Cora Cash also aspires to marry well. An Americanized version of gothic fiction and mystery, Goodwin’s talent as a storyteller is revealed when she begins to peel the layers back and expose the true natures of the characters and their places within the complex network of class and race constructs of both American and British society, vestiges of which still exist today.
I was pleasantly surprised with the depth of this book. It’s a very good read.
