The New York Times and USA Today bestseller
The New York Times bestselling author ofZ: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgeraldreturns with a riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York.
Alva Smith, her southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of Americas great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Ignored by New Yorks old-money circles and determined to win respect, she designed and built nine 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.
With a nod to Jane Austen and Edith Wharton and for fans of HBO's hit showThe Gilded Age,A Well-Behaved Woman depictsa glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman. Meet Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, living proof that history is made by those who know the rulesand how to break them.
THERESE ANNE FOWLER is the
New York Timesbestselling author of
A Good Neighborhood, A Well-Behaved Woman,and
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Raised in the Midwest, she migrated to North Carolina in 1995. She holds a B.A. in sociology/cultural anthropology and an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University.
Delicious. People(Best Books of Fall 2018)
Fowlers Alva is tough, cagey and unwilling to settle for the role of high-society ornament whats not to like? The Washington Post
A Well-Behaved Womandraws beauty from paradox: it is both detailed and fast-paced, loving and critical, heart-breaking and hopeful. Chicago Review of Books
A tale well-researched and honest, it rl"
![A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/2/8/2/2_3203886.jpg "A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts [Paperback]")