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Title: American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
Author: Karen Harper
Format: Epub
Rating: 3.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: March 8, 2019 to March 12, 2019
Book Summary: Before Meghan and Harry, another American ‘princess’ captured the hand of an English aristocrat. Now, Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold.”

On a cold November day in 1895, a carriage approaches St Thomas Episcopal Church on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Massive crowds surge forward, awaiting their glimpse of heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt. Just 18, the beautiful bride has not only arrived late, but in tears, yet her marriage to the aloof Duke of Marlborough proceeds. Bullied into the wedding by her indomitable mother, Alva, Consuelo loves another. But a deal was made, trading some of the vast Vanderbilt wealth for a title and prestige, and Consuelo, bred to obey, realizes she must make the best of things.

At Blenheim Palace, Consuelo is confronted with an overwhelming list of duties, including producing an “heir and a spare,” but her relationship with the duke quickly disintegrates. Consuelo finds an inner strength, charming everyone from debutantes to diplomats including Winston Churchill, as she fights for women’s suffrage. And when she takes a scandalous leap, can she hope to attain love at last…?

From the dawning of the opulent Gilded Age, to the battles of the Second World War, American Duchess is a riveting tale of one woman’s quest to attain independence—at any price.
Book Review: Ever heard of "Million Dollar American Princess"?

You are about to meet one. Conselo Vanderbilt was considered one of these Million Dollar American Princesses during the Gilded Age. British nobility looked to these women with the hopes that the money they have would build these noble and povished families back up. Conselo Vanderbilt was a prize any British nobility would want to acquire but Conselo's young heart belonged to another named Win. She was hoping to win her father on their side and gain his help in her crusade in hoping to win the approval to marry her sweetheart. Unfortunately she has underestimated her mother's desire to conntinue her climb up the ladder. Alva bullies her daughter into marrying the Duke of Malborough. Forced into a loveless marriage, Conselo might have just faded into the pages of history from there but that isn't Conselo and she will be what helps change her story all together.

I had been anticipating this novel for quite some time. I had been a bit fascinated about Conselo since watching a show on million dollar princesses and she was one of the American princesses they were covering.

This book did a marvelous job covering Conselo's life but maybe a bit too much of a job of it. I had to put the book down several times as the information flowed a bit too much. Although this somewhat of a good thing but it can also be a bad thing as it weighs down a good book with way too much information.

Still Conselo continued to leap out from the pages of this book drawing us into her life and her loveless marriage as she tried to find her footing in a life foreign to her.

This was a good read and well worth the time to sit down to read it.