The American Heiress: A Novel Author: Daisy Goodwin | Language: English | ISBN:
B004RCNS9C | Format: EPUB
The American Heiress: A Novel Description
"Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms (who isn't?) will find an instant tonic in Daisy Goodwin’s The American Heiress. The story of Cora Cash, an American heiress in the 1890s who bags an English duke, this is a deliciously evocative first novel that lingers in the mind." --Allison Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It and I Think I Love You
Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.
Witty, moving, and brilliantly entertaining, Cora’s story marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who brings a fresh new spirit to the world of Edith Wharton and Henry James.
"For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn’t always buy them happiness." --Daisy Goodwin in The Daily Mail
One of Library Journal's Best Historical Fiction Books of 2011
The American Heiress was originally sold and distributed in the UK as My Last Duchess.
- File Size: 610 KB
- Print Length: 474 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0312658656
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press; Reprint edition (June 21, 2011)
- Sold by: Macmillan
- Language: English
- ASIN: B004RCNS9C
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,972 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
I love and hate this book. It contains superb writing, but I'm sorry to say the story bummed me out. This is just as beautiful a book as the cover hints at, full of the lives of many different people of several classes. I enjoyed the first part of the book so much, I can barely bring myself to say that I didn't like it in the end.
Cora is a rich "new money" American girl who is pushed by her mother to find a titled husband in Europe. The time period and custom of classes seemed flawless and I really enjoyed seeing both the master and servant life. It has a sort of Titanic -like all encompassing view of life in the 1890's that explores much more than just Cora's life. Through the eyes of her black (but free) maid, Bertha, we get to see Cora from an outsiders viewpoint, which is rather fun.
The writer has an excellent command of language and style and I would give other works of hers a chance. Descriptive passages like, "The white limestone houses, clustered along the cliffs like a collection of wedding cakes..." are so beautiful, they really transport you into her scenes. Also, it is quite entertaining to see Cora's mother try to be the most extravagant but ultimately set herself ablaze at THE ball of the season.
In fact, there is nothing in the beginning of the book that would have warned me what I was getting into. By the middle of the book, I was so caught up in Cora's life that I felt protective of her and angry that she could not see the scandal being set up around her. With every comment Cora didn't catch and trick she fell for, I got angrier. I am not a fan of infidelity and this book seemed to say that no one could possibly live a life of monogamy. Every marriage is filled with deceit, flirtations with others, and unhappiness covered with plastic smiles.
For a full-length novel, I sure felt like a stranger to the characters by the end of the book. Of course, the fact that I made it to the end is something, because I am quite particular about my books and will NOT waste a minute on something I'm convinced has no potential. Turns out though, the "no potential" thing wasn't fully confirmed till the last page.
I found myself quite confused at Mrs. Daisy, our first time author. She is somehow simultaneously an excellent writer and painfully inadequate. Her attention to detail, the flow and rhythm of the book, setting the scene and overall mood were flawless. Unfortunately, the characters had little more depth, diversity or development than a paperback novel (think steamy cover, less than 150 pages and plenty of girly style porn - bleh). Sooooo we have a rich heiress, spoiled and wanting to be free. Ummm yep. That's pretty much all you ever learn about her. She honestly doesn't ever change or develop. She simply responds to what's around her. There is never a moment of introspection, never an added level to her personality. While we hear her thoughts constantly somehow she keeps us at arms length for the whole book - and not in an intriguing, mysterious way, just in a shallow, nope-that's-really-all-there-is-to-her way. Bertha is a cringe-worthy cliché. Steady, smart, flawless... yaaaaawn! When she decides to stay with Cora and not Jim at the end, her reasons are entirely out of character! She has not shown for a fraction of a second that she had any true connection or concern for Cora so it is quite bewildering that she suddenly, inexplicably thinks of her mistress as "her only family". Of course we have two one-dimensional mothers concerned only with themselves and their societies, not their children.
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