A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler
I walked away from this book thinking, why have I not learned more about Alva Vanderbilt?
Summary:
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 nine 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, in A Well-Behaved Woman Therese Anne Fowler 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.
Review (includes spoilers): 4/5 stars
I have always loved a well-done historical fiction book; something that makes you learn. You know it's going to be good when you start writing down names, places and events to look up after you've read the book. That is exactly what A Well-Behaved Woman did. I walked into the story not really knowing anything about the Vanderbilts other than they were wealthy tentpoles of the Industrial Age and Anderson Cooper is a direct line. And I definitely knew nothing about Alva.
The book is split into three sections, three time periods of Alva's life. Pre-marriage and her work of securing a future. Marriage, childbirth and securing a future for generations to come. And her life post Vanderbilt.
From the beginning the author introduces a character who is smart and cunning, someone who will stop at nothing advance her status. Alva was someone born into money but through circumstance did not have much at the marrying age - her marriage to William K Vanderbilt therefore was critical.
The author does a nice job of juxtaposing the haves and the have nots. She painted the picture of what the elite and wealthy thought of poor, working class Americans. I enjoyed the inner monologue we as readers got to assume Alva was thinking as she was trying to secure a marriage. She was on the brink of destitution and very much saw her future in the tenements they were visiting for charitable aide. I do think there was a bit of liberty given to Alva to make her seem more sympathetic. I doubt she gave too much thought to what the lives of the poor were really like, but I felt it a good comparison for the reader to understand what was going on historically during that time period and how quickly women could go from status to poverty.
Once the marriage to William K. Vanderbilt was secured the buildup to the wedding night was almost all that was discussed. I understand the author wanted the readers to understand that women (girls) didn't know anything about sex, but the amount of times Alva thought about it leading up to the act and all the times after was a bit much. This isn't a smut novel so why are you trying to make it one.
The first part of the book also dealt with the topic of Mary, the Black servant whose mother was a former slave of Alva's parents. To give a little backstory, Alva's family came from the deep, plantation South. They lost much of their fortune post-civil war. However, Mary and Lulu (Mary’s mother) stayed on with the family after the war. When Alva is forming a household after the marriage, she insists on keeping Mary as her lady’s maid to much protest from the family in-laws. Alva was adamant about keeping Mary and fought for her in many circumstances. There were also many inner monologue or just general dialogue between Mary and Alva that seemed put on. It took me out of the story because I find it highly doubtful Alva, the daughter of a slave owning plantation owner would really see whites and Blacks equally or equal enough to stick up for Mary at risk of her own public appearance. As we learn very quickly appearance is everything to Alva. (Note… we do find out at the end of the book Mary is a fictional character, which kind of affirms my thoughts on the topic).
For me, it started to get really interesting once Alva was trying to get into society. This is the part of the book where I started writing down names and places to look up later. It's always amazing to remember what a transformative time that part of history was. Unrestricted wealth, and immense poverty. Again, the author tries to paint Alava in an altruistic light, someone that cared about the poor. There are a few reasons I don't think that passion was truly there… one the limited information we have on her charitable efforts and two the time. It was not part of society to give back… that came later.
It was fascinating to learn about how she orchestrated her daughter's life and future marriage. While there are mixed reviews on how she went about it, I want to believe the author here. I think Alva was always trying to do what was best for the family; self-preservation and getting a title is doing just that. Also, quite on theme for the time. Let's not forget women were commodities, you had to get the biggest bang for your buck so to speak. Love was not a viable concept until probably post WW2.
The middle part of her life was interesting to understand more about the time period, who the players in society were and what landmarks were being built. But the biggest shock, and where things really got juicy, was when Alva received the letter from her best friend about the affair she was having with Alva’s husband. I was SHOCKED. Alva named her daughter after this woman. I could not believe it, truly shocked. And what surprised me even more was the aftermath of the discovery. Alva’s inner battle of what to do, the concern for her future, her kids future, because the scandal would affect them more than William. And then the biggest shock of them all the divorce. I really was not expecting Alva to go through with it. At a time when women had no rights, no ownerships, kids weren't even theirs! To have the guts to say this is not OK I need to change this cycle and to be so smart about it. Trail blazing. Of course this is fiction, but I assume based in a decent amount of fact so I'd like to think the story went down the way the author wrote. Another thing that surprised me, that really shouldn’t have was how Alva was shunned by society for getting the divorce. Like excuse you… why did she get the divorce to begin with? Ah right the affair. But alas - women are sometimes the worst.
If I thought the middle part of her life was juicy, her final chapter was the best yet. This is where I feel Alva really was able to live. She had finally gotten to the upper echelon of society. Her daughter was a duchess for Christ's sake. Yes, she was an ostracized divorcee, but she found love again with a Belmont of all people. It is during this marriage, and this iteration of her life I feel like she was able to truly be free and to think for herself without impact of others. I actually wish we had spent more time learning about this part of her life. This is when she was politically active and got heavily involved in the women's right to vote. I truly had no idea.
Like I said in my opening line, this book made me mad that I didn't know anything about her prior. Honestly, I'll scream until I'm blue in the face… the erasure of women from history is infuriating. This is a woman who somewhat single handedly got her family from wealthy to inner circle to royalty and then fought for women's suffrage. If that isn't worthy of being in textbooks; of movies being made, I don't know what is.
I gave this book at 4/5 stars because of the questionable thoughts the author placed on to Alva. As we now know she was passionate about women's suffrage and other female causes, but that didn't seem to come until later in life. She may have had those thoughts and wants to do more earlier on but couldn’t due to circumstance, but she also could have been ok with the status quo and wasn't until later in life had issues with the haves vs have nots. Overall, however, I'd recommend to anyone interested in the Gilded Age, women's history, anyone that likes historical fiction in general. I learned an immense amount about the era and the influential people of the time. It sparked a curiosity in me to learn more which for me is the sign of a great book!
