A Well-behaved Woman

Alva Smith, her southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America's great Gilded Age dynasties:... (more)

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 9 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. (less)

"A riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her family in Gilded-Age New York. With a nod to Jane Austen and Ed... (more)

"A riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her family in Gilded-Age New York. With a nod to Jane Austen and Edith Wharton, Fowler paints a world of enormous wealth and desperate poverty, social ambition and social scorn, friendship and betrayal, and a remarkable woman"--From the publisher's web site. (less)

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