American Duchess

January 1, 2019
Consuelo Vanderbilt is no stranger to the public eye. The press covers her prominent family's every business acquisition, philanthropic endeavor, and high-profile social appearance, always with an ear to the ground for more salacious stories. Consuelo's notoriously social-climbing mother finds her greatest triumph in engineering Consuelo's engagement to the duke of Marlborough. Consuelo must leave the glitz and glamour of New York behind and begin anew at Blenheim, the duke's British estate. In this marriage founded on not love but sociopolitical advancement, Consuelo discovers a slew of other unexpected compromises. Harper's (The It Girls, 2017) latest immerses readers in British high society, with intrigue and gossip around every corner. Sure to please historical fiction fans and those who enjoy Harper's previous novels or the works of Kristin Hannah, Kathleen Tessaro, and Lucinda Riley, this tender, well-researched novel lets readers see the economic, social, and political highlights of the nineteenth-century Gilded Age brought to life through Consuelo Vanderbilt's eyes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2018

One of the so-called "Dollar Princesses" who brought much-needed cash into the British aristocracy, Consuelo Vanderbilt became an American duchess a century before Meghan Markle. This fictional account of her life by suspense and historical fiction writer Harper (The It Girls; Silent Scream) begins with her marriage to Sunny, the ninth Duke of Marlborough, in 1895, when she was 18. Coerced into a loveless union by her ambitious mother, Consuelo tries to do her duty by her family and her husband, while championing the poor and the sick. She gives birth to two sons before divorcing the duke and finding love in her second marriage. Despite her wealthy upbringing in New York and Newport, RI, Consuelo was moved by the working class and especially by mothers and children. She maintained a great friendship with the duke's cousin, Winston Churchill, and survived World War I in England and World War II in France. During both wars, she used her wealth for charitable causes, including establishing a hospital in France. VERDICT A sweeping history of the Gilded Age, this novel is for fans of historical fiction, PBS's Downton Abbey, and the recent royal wedding. [See Prepub Alert, 8/20/18.]--Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2018

Pummeled into marrying the chilly Duke of Marlborough by her ambitious mother, Consuelo Vanderbilt is red-eyed at "the Wedding of the Century." Yet even as her duties at Blenheim wear and her marriage bottoms out, she charms everyone she meets, fights for women's suffrage, and eventually entertains scandal. From New York Times best-selling author Harper; with a 75,000-copy paperback and 25,000-copy hardcover first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.