Overview

""A dual life story that reads as pleasurably as the best fiction but with all the intelligence of a first-rate biography. . . . completely absorbing.""--Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire The granddaughter of the richest man in America, Consuelo Vanderbilt was the prize catch of New York Society. But her socially ambitious mother, Alva, was adamant that her daughter should make a grand marriage, and the underfunded Duke of Marlborough was just the thing--even though Consuelo loved someone else. The story of these two women is not simply one of empty wealth, Gilded Age glamour, and of enterprising social ambition. Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt is also a fascinating account of how two women struggled to break free from the deeply materialistic, stifling world into which they were born, taking up the fight for female equality. In this brilliant and engrossing book, Amanda Mackenzie Stuart suggests that behind the most famous transatlantic marriage lies an extraordinary tale of the quest for female power.

Full Product Details

9780060938253

Table of Contents

Reviews

Fascinating... A thoughtful portrait of two strong, well-educated women who were more than the measure of their extreme wealth. -- Seattle Times

Riveting . . . [An] excellent biography . . . Mackenzie Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subject s. --Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Times Book Review

[A] deftly contextualized account. --Vogue A riveting story... Alva and Consuelo emerge as unique and fascinating characters... A very entertaining read. --Publishers Weekly Fascinating... A thoughtful portrait of two strong, well-educated women who were more than the measure of their extreme wealth. --Seattle Times An intimate look at two women whose lives reveal changing social patterns. Just fascinating. --USA Today Mackenzie Stuart has skillfully integrated a great deal of research... and she gives a rich sense of both women. --Washington Post Book World A saga of transatlantic maneuvers worthy of Henry James or Edith Wharton. --Kirkus Reviews Skilfully and sympathetically told. . . . Brilliant. --Antonia Fraser, The Times (London) Book lovers, Anglophiles and social historians alike will find much to please them in this fine, well-researched biography. --Virginian Pilot highly readable, well constructed, novelish biography...a confident and compelling book. --Contemporary Review [A] fascinating dual biography. --Elle Compellingly readable... [Mackenzie Stuart] writes... with the eye of an accomplished historian and with profound sympathy for the central figures. --Richmond Times-Dispatch Riveting . . . [An] excellent biography . . . Mackenzie Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subject's. --Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Times Book Review Astute. . . . A lively narrative. . . . Written with impressive verve and confidence. --Newsday Impeccably researched . . . Mackenzie Stuart's history marshals an impressive trove of primary documents. --The New Yorker

Author Information

Amanda Mackenzie Stuart is the author of Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age. She lives in Oxford, England.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available