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Publisher Description
Fans of Bridgerton will love this "exuberant novel of manners for our own gilded age" (Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra) as we follow the Wilcox family's journey through riches and ruin.
Among New York City's Gilded Age elite, one family will defy convention.
Helen Wilcox has one desire: to successfully launch her daughters into society. From the upper crust herself, Helen's unconventional--if happy--marriage has made the girls' social position precarious. Then her husband gambles the family fortunes on an elevated railroad that he claims will transform the face of the city and the way the people of New York live, but will it ruin the Wilcoxes first? As daughters Jemima and Alice navigate the rise and fall of their family--each is forced to re-examine who she is, and even who she is meant to love.
From the author of To Marry an English Lord, an inspiration for Downton Abbey, comes a charming and cutthroat tale of a world in which an invitation or an avoided glance can be the difference between fortune and ruin.
Among New York City's Gilded Age elite, one family will defy convention.
Helen Wilcox has one desire: to successfully launch her daughters into society. From the upper crust herself, Helen's unconventional--if happy--marriage has made the girls' social position precarious. Then her husband gambles the family fortunes on an elevated railroad that he claims will transform the face of the city and the way the people of New York live, but will it ruin the Wilcoxes first? As daughters Jemima and Alice navigate the rise and fall of their family--each is forced to re-examine who she is, and even who she is meant to love.
From the author of To Marry an English Lord, an inspiration for Downton Abbey, comes a charming and cutthroat tale of a world in which an invitation or an avoided glance can be the difference between fortune and ruin.
37 Reviews
3.0
shainnehost
Created 3 days agoShare
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“If you are used to reading Bridgerton, you may relate to this. But that book series is a lot better per my liking and preference—nice to have that 18th century lifestyle New York/English background to have an understanding.”
elainegl
Created 6 months agoShare
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“I can’t decide how to rate this book. I enjoyed the story, but the way it was written was so confusing. The story was told from multiple viewpoints, but it was not made clear whose viewpoint it was until you were in the middle of the paragraph. Viewpoints changed paragraph to paragraph, and at least once in the middle of a paragraph. It was always confusing and often quite jarring.
That said, the story itself was fun. It’s about a family, I’m guessing loosely based on the Vanderbilts in NYC during the golden age. Helen, from an old NY family, marries way beneath her for love. Joshua, her husband, goes on to become very rich, but not before becoming very poor. Their two daughters are on the verge of being presented into NY society. Plus Helen’s mom clings desperately to old NYC society and hates seeing how it is changing. There’s another family that could have been the Astors and they are fun to hate in the book for their snobbish ways.
One more downside of this book, though no fault of the author so it doesn’t affect my rating, is that I bought it at Dollar Tree and about 3/4 of the way through, about 20 pages from a different book replaced those pages in this book, so I missed a key thing that happened. It was referred to once the book started back up again, so I got the gist of what happened, but now I know why it was only $1.25.
This is a gentle romance. No sex, violence, or bad language.
I’d be willing to read another book by this author if I could be assured that an editor did her job with viewpoints. Other than that aspect, it was a good story!”
Lynn Crawford
Created 7 months agoShare
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Dawn Baker
Created 8 months agoShare
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About Carol Wallace
Carol Wallace has written more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestseller To Marry an English Lord, which was an inspiration for Downton Abbey. She is also the author of an historical novel, Leaving Van Gogh, and a co-author of The Official Preppy Handbook. Wallace holds degrees from Princeton University and Columbia University, and is the great-great-granddaughter of Lew Wallace, author of the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, which was first published in 1880. She currently lives in New York, New York.
Other books by Carol Wallace
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