Scan barcode
A review by book_concierge
A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts by Therese Anne Fowler
3.0
Digital audiobook narrated by Barrie Kreinik
3.5***
The subtitle is all the synopsis you need: A Novel of the Vanderbilts.
Alva Smith and her sisters are left with nothing but their good reputation after the Civil War. William Vanderbilt’s family is wealthy but not accepted by New York’s premier families. A marriage between the two might improve both families’ spot in society. It’s a false hope, however. But Alva is determined. She uses her husband’s money to build new and lavish mansions, hosts her own grand balls, works to found the Metropolitan Opera House, and to ensure that her children achieved the stature she deemed appropriate.
She was no shrinking violet … she was a Steel Magnolia. Intelligent, cagey, and fiercely independent. Faced with a betrayal, she moved forward with a scandalous strategy. It was a courageous move, but she was determined. Among the causes she championed was suffrage for all women.
I thought Fowler did a great job of bringing this fascinating woman to life. Of course I had heard of the Vanderbilts, but I knew little of Alva’s background or of her political causes before reading this.
Barrie Kreinik did a fine job of performing the audiobook. I found her interpretation of Ava and the many other characters believable. This is the second book set during the Gilded Age that I’ve listened to this month, and I admit that I got a bit confused at times, thinking that an episode in the story of Jennie Churchill was part of Alva’s story. That’s my fault, not the book’s or narrator’s.
3.5***
The subtitle is all the synopsis you need: A Novel of the Vanderbilts.
Alva Smith and her sisters are left with nothing but their good reputation after the Civil War. William Vanderbilt’s family is wealthy but not accepted by New York’s premier families. A marriage between the two might improve both families’ spot in society. It’s a false hope, however. But Alva is determined. She uses her husband’s money to build new and lavish mansions, hosts her own grand balls, works to found the Metropolitan Opera House, and to ensure that her children achieved the stature she deemed appropriate.
She was no shrinking violet … she was a Steel Magnolia. Intelligent, cagey, and fiercely independent. Faced with a betrayal, she moved forward with a scandalous strategy. It was a courageous move, but she was determined. Among the causes she championed was suffrage for all women.
I thought Fowler did a great job of bringing this fascinating woman to life. Of course I had heard of the Vanderbilts, but I knew little of Alva’s background or of her political causes before reading this.
Barrie Kreinik did a fine job of performing the audiobook. I found her interpretation of Ava and the many other characters believable. This is the second book set during the Gilded Age that I’ve listened to this month, and I admit that I got a bit confused at times, thinking that an episode in the story of Jennie Churchill was part of Alva’s story. That’s my fault, not the book’s or narrator’s.