01904cam a2200337 i 4500 368482394 TxAuBib 20190101120000.0 180501s2018||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2018019687 9781250095473 1250095476 (OCoLC)1016946039 TxAuBib rda Fowler, Therese Anne. A well-behaved woman : a novel of the Vanderbilts / Therese Anne Fowler. First edition. New York : St. Martin's Press, 2018. 392 pages ; 25 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Alva Smith, her southern family destitute after the Civil War, married 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 designed and built 9 mansions, hosted grand balls, and arranged for her daughter to marry a duke. But Alva also defied convention for women of her 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, the author paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman. Meet Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, living proof that history is made by those who know the rules--and how to break them. 20190101. Belmont, Alva 1853-1933 Fiction. Vanderbilt family Fiction. Socialites Fiction. United States Social life and customs 1865-1918 Fiction. Historical fiction. Biographical fiction.