A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts

Therese Anne Fowler

Oct 2018 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

The New York Times and USA Today bestseller

The New York Times bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald returns 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 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 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 show The Gilded Age, A Well-Behaved Woman depicts a 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 rules—and how to break them.

Ratings and reviews

I loved this book, but the ending felt rushed.

Good

About the author

THERESE ANNE FOWLER is the New York Times bestselling 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.