A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts (Large Print / Library Binding)
Staff Reviews
This is a must-read for lovers of historical fiction. Alva Smith married for money. That was the situation of many families in the post-Civil War south. Alva, smart and ambitious marries into the Vanderbilt family which is wealthy, but shunned by the society of New York's Gilded Age. This is a story of Alva's success in moving the family into society, her passion for building, her growing passion for women's suffrage, and her final demand for independence. Alva is a multidimensional character who grows into her social position, and then transcends it.
— AnneDecember 2018 Indie Next List
“In her lifetime, Alva Smith Vanderbilt goes from being a Have to a Have-Not to a Have-It-All. Not content to just build spectacular mansions and host fabulous high-society balls, she uses her status and immense wealth to help the poverty-stricken, promote racial equality, and advocate for women’s rights in the courts and voting booths. As she did in Z, Therese Anne Fowler digs beyond the sensational and scandalous newspaper headlines and brings depth to her protagonist to show us a life well-lived.”
— Nancy Baenen, Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI
About the Author
THERESE ANNE FOWLER is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Raised in the Midwest, she moved to North Carolina in 1995. She holds a BA in sociology/cultural anthropology and an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University.
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