Book set in NYC – A Well-Behaved Woman, Therese Anne Smith

Submitted: 28th January 2019

A novel inspired by true facts– Just who were the Vanderbilts?

More specifically to this book, who was Alva Smith? This is the woman at the centre of the story as it’s through her eyes that we catch a glimpse of New York in the Gilded Age.

Book set in NYC – A Well-Behaved Woman, Therese Anne Smith….

So for a Mystery set in Gilded Age New York – Therese Anne Fowler takes you on a journey into one of the most fascinating US families around…

BookTrail Travel to locations in A Well Behaved Woman

Setting: Gilded Age New York

Inspired by: The very real Alva Smith and the mystery surrounding the Vanderbilt legacy

BookTrail Travel to locations in A Well Behaved Woman

Bookreview

What a story and what a fascinating woman! I love stories about people we think we know, and who legends have made into something else entierely. This book allows you to see Gilded Age New York through the eyes of one of its own – Alva Smith. A woman who married into one of the biggest family dynasties in the world.

Given the social mores and expectations of the time, Alva had to marry to bring money into her family. they ahd been wealthy in their own right but had lost everything. Alva was their chance at getting it all back…with interest. So started a game, not unless chess given the skill and complexity undertaken. She was effectively her family’s pawn so this is an apt analogy to make. She was shoved into the path of William Vanderbilt by her best friend Consuela. Alva was to bring them a little respect given tat they were new money (not the done thing at the time) and she in return was to bring wealth and respect to her family.

Book set in NYC - A Well-Behaved Woman, Therese Anne Smith

US cover

This is where the dutiful little lady act ends however. Alva was not one to be messed around. She wanted to be something, somebody and so used this position to do just that. She became a major figure in the American women’s suffrage movement – something else prominent moneyed people were not expected to mingle in. These were affairs of the ‘ common people’. However, Alva wanted to challenge this and other conventions like them.

She also developed a keen interest in architecture and had several homes and buildings constructed in and around New York. Amongst these were Petit Chateau in New York; the Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island; the Belmont House, also in New York; Brookholt in Long Island; and Beacon Towers in Sands Point, New York. She did what she could for her family, but couldn’t bring herself to love her own – William was not the love of her life by any means. He had other woman and would make her life a misery which begs the question – is all the money in the world worth it when you are married to a man you can’t even bring yourself to respect?

This is a fascinating insight into one woman, one family whose name dominates so much of New York’s history today. It did get a bit bogged down in places in detail and read like a biography at times, but a fascinating one at that.

A BookTrail of the novel would showcase much of the glamour, faded and otherwise. Cocktails and a glam dress would be essential when swanning around the city in your gilded horse and carriage.

Fascinating on so many levels.