American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
by Karen Harper
Publisher: William Morrow
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: February 26, 2019
Reviewed by Hellie





Exquisitely written,
meticulously researched, and brimming with larger than life characters,
AMERICAN DUCHESS tells the story of Consuelo Vanderbilt, one of the “Dollar
Brides” that married into the British aristocracy. Consuelo--beautiful, rich,
and kind--is forced to marry the Duke of Marlborough, even though she loves
another. As a product of her time and upbringing, she follows through with what
is soon apparent to be a disastrous marriage, providing the “heir and the
spare”; however, her struggle for belonging, love, and companionship in her new
surroundings is constantly thwarted by her husband, who is both jealous of her
popularity with his people and family and resentful he had to lower himself to
marry an American at all.
The novel sweeps across
the majority of Consuelo’s life, starting at her marriage, all the way to 1943
when she is reunited with her true love, Jacques Balsan. In 368 pages, a lot of
things happen--I don’t believe the author wasted any pages because each page
was gripped with conflict, suspense, and drama--with an acceptable amount of triumph
to keep me from putting the novel aside. (Admittedly the Duke of Marlborough
was rather tough to handle.) I don’t want to go into too many details because I
think like me you don’t know all the history of Consuelo Vanderbilt either,
except that as the daughter of the aggressive and scheming Alva Vanderbilt, she
was married to a British duke. (Basically I knew her mother--quite famous in
her own right--made her marry someone she didn’t want and that their
relationship as mother and daughter was very contentious.)
The story starts at
exactly the right place--on the day of her wedding--with this brilliant hook: “Everyone
was calling it the wedding of the century. I was calling it the worst day of my
life.” I mean, how can you not keep turning pages to find out what is going on
with a line like that? It certainly challenges my dreams as a reader of what
marrying a young handsome duke would be like. (In fact if you love typical
historicals with dashing dukes, this duke may be a bit of a struggle for you.
He barely has any redeeming qualities.) But Consuelo is a dream as a heroine:
she’s brave, she’s kind, she stays true to herself even when forced to marry.
She is easy to root for--and while I knew (because I wikipedia’d it) when she
actually died, there were scenarios in the book where I was like, “OMG, is she
going to make it?”
Karen Harper ends the
book in the right place as well--with the reunion of Consuelo with her beloved
husband Jacques (you’ll have to read the road to that happening, my
friends--it’s worth it) during World War II. It ends with them together, happy,
and with several years before them content. (I don’t think I really gave
anything away with that--because as I said, you can google it for that info.)
All in all, a wonderful read and a thrilling ride. I hope you enjoy it as much
as I did.
I am so intrigued by this story.
ReplyDeleteI've been fascinated by the Vanderbilt family since moving to the Carolinas and visiting Biltmore Estate several years ago. Thanks for the review, Hellie. I'm going to see if my library has this one.
ReplyDeleteSounds like something I would enjoy - thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have read about the Dollar Brides and Consuelo is a wonderful example of overcoming. Thanks for this review.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review, Hellie. This sounds interesting. I'm going to check out my library too, PJ.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading it. What a wonderful read. It's definitely a reread. After reading it I found myself online looking at aol the pictures of Consuelo & family.
ReplyDeleteCarol Luciano
Lucky4750 at aol dot com
While I was reading it, I too kept looking her and other members up on the Google to find out more about them, et al. Lots of great historical detail--without overburdening the writing.
DeleteI absolutely adored this book! I've read numerous books about the Vanderbilt family, and by far, this one is my favorite. It's more of a romance novel than a biography. Loved it and hope others will read it too.
ReplyDeleteYES! It did feel like that...though it took a while before she could stop kissing the toad and hook up with the prince, as they say. :)
Deletefascinated with this story and period in history
ReplyDeletedenise