A Well-Behaved Woman (Paperback) Book - Therese Anne Fowler

The riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York, from the New York Times bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'A glittering depiction of a woman ahead of her time who absolutely refused to be second best' Red Alva Smith , her Southern family destitute after the Civil War , marries 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 designs and builds nine mansions, hosts grand balls, and arranges for her daughter to marry a duke. But Alva also defies convention for women of the 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 , bestselling author Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted with desperate poverty, of social ambition a