Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart

A dual life story that reads as pleasurably as the best fiction but with all the intelligence of a first-rate biography. . . . completely absorbing.-Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire The granddaughter of the richest man in America, Consuelo Vanderbilt was the prize catch of New York Society. But her socially ambitious mother, Alva, was adamant that her daughter should make a grand marriage, and the underfunded Duke of Marlborough was just the thing-even though Consuelo loved someone else. The story of these two women is not simply one of empty wealth, Gilded Age glamour, and of enterprising social ambition. Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt is also a fascinating account of how two women struggled to break free from the deeply materialistic, stifling world into which they were born, taking up the fight for female equality. In this brilliant and engrossing book, Amanda Mackenzie Stuart suggests that behind the most famous transatlantic marriage lies an extraordinary tale of the quest for female power. Editorial Reviews Riveting . . . [An] excellent biography . . . Mackenzie Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subject's. - Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Times Book Review Impeccably researched . . . Mackenzie Stuart's history marshals an impressive trove of primary documents. - The New Yorker Mackenzie Stuart has skillfully integrated a great deal of research... and she gives a rich sense of both women. - Washington Post Book World [A] fascinating dual biography. - Elle A saga of transatlantic maneuvers worthy of Henry James or Edith Wharton. - Kirkus Reviews Book lovers, Anglophiles and social historians alike will find much to please them in this fine, well-researched biography. - Virginian Pilot [A] deftly contextualized account. - Vogue An intimate look at two women whose lives reveal changing social patterns. Just fascinating. - USA Today Skilfully and sympathetically told. . . . Brilliant. - Antonia Fraser, The Times (London) A riveting story... Alva and Consuelo emerge as unique and fascinating characters... A very entertaining read. - Publishers Weekly Astute. . . . A lively narrative. . . . Written with impressive verve and confidence. - Newsday Compellingly readable... [Mackenzie Stuart] writes... with the eye of an accomplished historian and with profound sympathy for the central figures. - Richmond Times-Dispatch Fascinating. . . . A thoughtful portrait of two strong, well-educated women who were more than the measure of their extreme wealth. - Seattle Times highly readable, well constructed, novelish biography. . . . a confident and compelling book. - Contemporary Review - From the Publisher Skilfully and sympathetically told. . . . Brilliant. - Antonia Fraser Mackenzie Stuart has skillfully integrated a great deal of research... and she gives a rich sense of both women. - Washington Post Book World Book lovers, Anglophiles and social historians alike will find much to please them in this fine, well-researched biography. - Virginian Pilot An intimate look at two women whose lives reveal changing social patterns. Just fascinating. - USA Today [A] deftly contextualized account. - Vogue Impeccably researched . . . Mackenzie Stuart's history marshals an impressive trove of primary documents. - The New Yorker [A] fascinating dual biography. - Elle Riveting . . . [An] excellent biography . . . Mackenzie Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subject's. - Francine du Plessix Gray Impeccably researched . . . Mackenzie Stuart's history marshals an impressive trove of primary documents. - The New Yorker An intimate look at two women whose lives reveal changing social patterns. Just fascinating. - USA Today highly readable, well constructed, novelish biography. . . . a confident and compelling book. - Contemporary Review Astute. . . . A lively narrative. . . . Written with impressive verve and confidence. - Newsday Fascinating. . . . A thoughtful portrait of two strong, well-educated women who were more than the measure of their extreme wealth. - Seattle Times Compellingly readable... [Mackenzie Stuart] writes... with the eye of an accomplished historian and with profound sympathy for the central figures. - Richmond Times-Dispatch 12/01/2014 Consuelo Vanderbilt is most often remembered as a tragic figure who endured a loveless marriage, and her mother Alva as a pushy social climber who encouraged her daughter's unfortunate match. But there's far more to the Vanderbilt women than a marriage gone bad. Stuart explores the complicated relationship between mother and daughter, delving into their legacy as activists for women's suffrage and their contributions to the arts and the war effort. - Library Journal With Stuart's precise descriptions of the endless balls and fetes and the gowns and jewels worn by each woman, reading the book at times feels like consuming six courses of pastry. The latter half, when Alva and Consuelo begin to be politically active, is far livelier. Mother and daughter were both activists and snobs (Alva abused her servants, Consuelo was anti-Semitic), do-gooders and clothes-horses, denizens of Vogue and the political papers. Alva certainly deserves to be returned to her place in the history of feminism and the struggle for the vote in the United States, however controversial and uncomfortable her personality made her. But as Stuart ably demonstrates, they both heroically met the challenges faced by talented and energetic women at the turn of the last century - The Washington Post - Marge Piercy Surmounting most obstacles through her innate intelligence and self-discipline, abandoning the harsh glitter of her life as a peer's wife for the pure gold of her happiness with a man she chose to love, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan left an ineffable legacy of style and grace that Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subject's. - The New York Times - Francine du Plessix Grey In 1875, the strong-willed Alva Smith married an heir to the Vanderbilt fortune in order to save her own family from further descent into genteel poverty. Twenty years later, she compelled her daughter Consuelo into a loveless marriage to the ninth Duke of Marlborough, in order to provide her with a career rather than an empty life. Mother's and daughter's remarkably similar trajectories through life-difficult first marriages, happy second ones, social leadership, arts patronage, a shift into activism-were shaped by the opportunities wealth offered and the calculated use of marriage as a business transaction in their class and era. In her first book, Stuart uses a remarkable breadth of sources to follow her subjects to Newport, R.I.; India; late Victorian and Edwardian England; the heart of the women's movement; and the south of France at the outbreak of WWII She tells a riveting story but keeps her distance from her subjects, not offering final judgment on Alva's coercion of her daughter or allowing emotion to intrude on the deaths of major characters. Still, Alva and Consuelo emerge as unique and fascinating characters, and the details of their lives and times make a very entertaining read. Agent, Clare Alexander. (Jan. 4) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. - Publishers Weekly British author Stuart debuts with a saga of transatlantic maneuvers worthy of Henry James or Edith Wharton. Alva Smith bolstered the flagging fortunes of her Southern, formerly slave-owning family in 1875 by marrying William K. Vanderbilt, son of the fabulously wealthy but not socially acceptable Commodore. The Vanderbilts had made progress in getting into Mrs. Astor's good graces when William's philandering prompted a scandalous divorce in 1895. There was no way daughter Consuelo could be allowed to enjoy true love with a respectable New Englander; Alva steered her into the arms of the Duke of Marlborough. A contemporary newspaper reported that the Vanderbilts paid $10,000,000 in order to join their family to the Marlborough line, and the duke certainly needed the cash: The same paper reported that he earned the 1895 equivalent of $40,000, but his palace at Blenheim cost $370,000 to maintain. Consuelo was none too pleased with the arrangement, in which she had no say; small wonder that she kept her groom waiting at the altar while she wept in the arms of her father, who had no choice but to persuade her to get it over with. Consuelo did, and Alva was soon reaping the benefits due the mother of the Duchess of Marlborough. Good thing, for she needed points to reenter society after her divorce. Declaring that she would never again be financially dependent on a man (save for alimony, of course), Alva later became a strong advocate of women's rights-some said in penance for what she had done to Consuelo, separated from the duke in 1906 but not divorced until 1921, when she quickly remarried and found happiness among the nobility of France. Capable rendition of an elaborate family drama. - Kirkus Reviews