25 Gilded Age Books to Read

Book Summary

Alva Smith had a decent society name, but her family had lost all of their money. When she married into the newly rich, but socially scorned Vanderbilt family, she knew only half her problems were solved. She had more money than she could ever spend, but her new last name was not respected in the city.

When the Academy of Music denied her a box, she founded The Met to prove she wouldn’t handle rejection quietly. But how much can she work around the strict rules of New York society? And will there be consequences for pushing the boundaries?

Book Summary

Emma is a twenty-one-year-old second cousin to Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1895, she landed an invitation to a grand ball at the Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ summer home. However, she’s not just going for fun. She’s also reporting on the ball for the society pages.

Her task of observing the party takes an unexpected turn when she sees Cornelius Vanderbilt’s financial secretary plunge off a balcony. Her black sheep brother, Brady, seems to be the main suspect, but Emma believes he has been framed. Can she gather enough evidence to set him free?

Book Summary

This novel is based on the true rags-to-riches story of Arabella Huntington. At the age of 17, she was working at a gambling parlor in Richmond, Virginia, where she met Collis Huntington. Thirty years her senior, Huntington was a railroad baron and self-made millionaire. Although he was married, he was drawn to Arabella both for her beauty and her temperament.

Arabella had always been determined to escape her impoverished background, and with the help of Huntington, she moves to New York City, where she poses as a genteel, wealthy Southern widow. With his seed money and her own shrewd investing instincts and business acumen, Arabella began to amass a fortune that would eventually make her the wealthiest self-made woman in the Gilded Age.

When Huntington’s wife dies, he marries Arabella. They are a power couple, but earning a place in the “The Four Hundred” – the elite circle that includes the Astor and the Vanderbilts – will require more than just their vast wealth. Arabella must prove that she also has taste and style, and she must demonstrate impeccable behavior. Does anyone suspect the truth about her past?

Book Summary

This novel tells the story of Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mrs. Astor’s notorious battle for control of New York society during the Gilded Age. It starts in 1876 New York with Alva Vanderbilt’s experiences dealing with her entrance to society after marrying into a wealthy family.

She has no idea how poorly she’ll be treated for being “new money” instead of “old money” by people like Caroline Astor. However, Alva isn’t one to give up. When they don’t welcome her into their society, she begins to build her own.

Social Graces covers thirty years of the social feud between Vanderbilt and Astor and is based on true events.

Book Summary

In the Gilded Age, wealthy New York families like the Vanderbilts and Astors escaped the heat of summer in Manhattan by traveling to Newport for the season. Pearl is the teen daughter of one of these families but yearns for a different life than her social-climbing mom expects.

Ginerva is also in Newport for the summer, but she’s a new immigrant from Italy and joins the household as a servant and seamstress. Pearl and Ginerva become fast friends, but Pearl can’t let her family know she’s befriended a member of the staff. The realities of their approaching adulthood become real when Pearl accepts a “suitable” marriage proposal that will pull her further into society life.

Book Summary

When Grace gets a job at William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper in 1896 NYC, she’s caught in a feud between Hearst and another newspaper tycoon, Joseph Pulitzer. She knows landing the right scoop could make her career.

In Cuba, 18-year-old Evangelina Cisneros dreams of a Cuba free from Spanish oppression. When she’s unjustly imprisoned in a notorious Havana women’s jail, Hearst puts her on the front page and calls her “The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba,” which becomes a rallying cry for American intervention in Cuba’s battle for independence.

Hearst’s staff, including Grace and a courier named Marina, who secretly works for Cuban revolutionaries, attempt to free Evangelia. But the story becomes much more significant when the explosion of the USS Maine sends the US and Spain closer to war.

Book Summary

This historical fiction novel is based on the remarkable true story of J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, a Black woman who became one of the most powerful women in NYC at the turn of the century.

Belle da Costa Greene was working at Princeton University Library when J.P. Morgan’s nephew recommended her for a position curating a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artbooks for his uncle’s newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. This position of prominence made her one of the most influential people in the art and book world. She became a fixture on the New York social scene.

But Belle had a secret that could change everything. She led people to believe that her dark complexion was the result of Portuguese heritage. In truth, however, she was born Bella Marion Greener – the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard University.

Book Summary

Sara was the head housekeeper at a posh London hotel in 1884. Based on her background, this is more than she ever expected and the highest station she could rise to in life. But then she meets an American visitor, Theodore Camden. He is building the most luxurious residential building in New York, The Dakota, and invites her to come to manage the property. The job brings her to highs and lows she never could have expected.

Sara’s story is told in conjunction with a 1985 storyline of Bailey Camden, who is returning from rehab and gets the opportunity to start fresh with a job overseeing the renovation of an apartment in The Dakota.

The novel goes back and forth between these perspectives, weaving together a story of love, betrayal, and the quest for success within one of NYC’s most famous residences.

Book Summary

In 1888 New York, the streets were still lit by gas lamps, but the promise of the light bulb loomed. However, the switch to electric light came with a complication – both George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison claimed to have invented the lightbulb.

A young lawyer, Paul Cravath, is thrust into the world of New York high society when he agrees to defend Westinghouse in a lawsuit brought by Thomas Edison. Edison has spies and vast resources, including the backing of J.P. Morgan. How can they fight against such a force?

When Paul meets Nikola Tesla, he may have found the secret to defeating Edison. But winning requires risks.

Book Summary

John Jacob Astor and Madeleine Force were one of the most prominent couples of the Gilded Age. While seventeen-year-old Madeleine was intelligent and solidly upper-class, she wasn’t in the same league as the Astors, who ruled New York society. She was also 29 years younger than “Jack”.

The press was obsessed with the unlikely duo, but on their honeymoon to Eqypt, they found some reprieve from journalists and photographers. Madeline was even happier when she found out she was pregnant. In April 1912, they returned home aboard the opulent new ocean liner, Titanic. When the ship hits an iceberg, Jack helps Madeleine into a lifeboat and promises to see her soon in New York.

Four months later, widowed Madeleine gives birth to her son, and her society status is elevated. But will she accept this glamorous life or carve out her own path?

Book Summary

Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, this historical fiction novel is based on the true story of Anita Hemmings, the first Black student to attend Vassar College, the country’s most exclusive school for women. Since childhood, she longed to attend Vassar, but she knew that in order to do so, she would have to hide her race.

At Vassar, Anita is assigned to room with Louise “Lottie” Taylor, the scion of one of New York’s most prominent families. As hard as she tries to keep her distance from her classmates, Lottie’s sphere of influence is inescapable. As the two become friends, Anita is pulled into Lottie’s world and sees what it’s like to be treated as a wealthy white woman. But when Lottie falls for Anita’s brother, the situation becomes very precarious and Anita’s secret is threatened.

Book Summary

On the night of the Great Chicago Fire, 17-year-old socialite Delia Spencer meets the charming Marshall Fields, and her life is forever changed.

Fields leads the way in rebuilding the city by reopening his dry goods store and then transforming it into a glamorous palace of a department store like the world had never seen before. He became a retail tycoon in Chicago by wooing female customers with his famous “Give the lady what she wants” motto. He also wooed Delia, but their private lives were riddled with scandal and heartbreak.

Book Summary

Sadie’s family owns a nursery that has supplied the top landscape architects on the East Coast for decades. But in 1893, as the economy plummets into a depression, Sadie’s father pressures her to marry for wealth and stability. Sadie has other ideas for her future. She pursues new business from her father’s wealthiest clients of the Gilded Age in an attempt to save the family nursery.

The more time she spends in the mansions and secluded gardens of the elite, the more she sees the disparity of those struggling with poverty and starvation. She finds a new passion in her desire to bring natural beauty to those who can’t afford private gardens. Along the way, Sadie is also reunited with a former employee and former love, Sam.

Book Summary

Anna and her cousin Sophie come from an upper-class family. Orphaned in their childhoods, the cousins – one white and one mixed race – were raised by their elderly aunt. Both are graduates of the Woman’s Medical School. Anna is a surgeon, and Sophie is an obstetrician and a pediatrician.

Their work introduces them to patients who are among the city’s most vulnerable. They begin to see the disparities between the upper crust and the working poor, as well as other hypocrisies of the Gilded Age, and become embroiled in a controversy that may put everything they’ve strived for in jeopardy.

Book Summary

Spanning the Gilded Age to the present day in three different timelines, this novel is set amongst the summer mansions of Newport, Rhode Island.

In the present day, you’ll meet Andie, the producer of a reality show called Mansion Makeover. She’s in Newport to renovate the once fabulous but now slowly crumbling Sprague Hall. However, she has more than construction problems. The mansion comes with a reclusive heiress who still lives in the house but insists that no one speaks to her and that no one touches the boathouse.

In 1958, you’ll meet Lucia, aka Lucky, Sprague, who fled Mussolini’s Italy with her grandmother. They return to her Nana’s Newport house, which she hasn’t seen since 1899. One night in the boathouse, she uncovers a shocking truth that changes everything she thought she knew.

In 1899, mining heiress Maybelle Sprague was taking singing lessons from Ellen, who had been hired to help polish Maybelle for her entrance into society. Maybelle’s stepbrother has just purchased a home among Newport’s elite and hopes to marry Maybelle off to an Italian prince. However, Ellen has a checkered past that the family doesn’t know about.

Book Summary

By the end of the Gilded Age, Andrew Carnegie had amassed an unimaginable fortune. Clara Kelley is thought to be the influence who changed Andrew Carnegie from a ruthless industrialist into what may have been the world’s first true philanthropist.

Clara started working for him under the guise of an experienced Irish maid, but in reality, Clara was a poor farmer’s daughter. Keeping up the ruse is difficult when you don’t know the rules of being a lady’s maid.

However, Clara has the resolve of Pittsburgh steel, combined with a fierce instinct for business. Soon, she becomes someone that Andrew relies on. As they get closer, she knows that being her true self would be too big of a risk to her family.

Book Summary

This historical mystery is based on the real life of journalist Nellie Bly. While she currently works for the ladies’ pages, she has greater ambition. However, the editors believe women are too emotional and delicate to be real journalists.

Eventually, she gets her big break. Rumors about the conditions and circumstances inside Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum for Women are terrifying. But, no one can get inside. The New York World publication had an idea…what if a woman feigns insanity to get committed and find out the truth?

What Nellie finds is more horrible than she expected. The investigation could make her career and make a difference to the women of Blackwell’s Island. But can she get out to tell her story before rival reporters scoop it up?

Book Summary

Emily was determined to make changes in the world and was an active participant in the women’s suffrage movement. But when her husband, Washington Roebling, was injured on the job as the Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge, Emily put her own work on hold to take over for her husband. As the bridge rises, Emily wonders if she’s building her own legacy or that of her husband.

This novel is based on the true story of how Emily Roebling transformed this project of monumental scale. Her work took her into the bowels of the East River, to suffragette riots, and into the halls of Manhattan’s elite.

Book Summary

Those of us who grew up on Disney’s Newsies, or who have seen the Broadway musical version, know a bit about the 1899 newsboy strike and the child labor struggles at the end of the 19th century. With that in mind, we went in search of a book that would shed more light on these events and came across this non-fiction book.

In addition to a chapter on the Newsies, this book also takes a broader look at the social history of the era from the perspective of the children who would grow up to become “the Greatest Generation.”

Book Summary

This in-depth non-fiction delves into the long life of the reclusive and mysterious Huguette Clark. The daughter of one of the wealthiest men of the Gilded Age, she grew up with unimaginable wealth and privilege, including living in the largest house in New York City (121 rooms in all).

She led a fascinating life that mirrors the history of the 20th and 21st centuries. She held a ticket for the Titanic and was still alive long after the 9/11 terror attacks in NYC, and yet she was so secretive that when she died at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen for decades. Despite owning gorgeous homes in Santa Barbara, Connecticut, and New York City (all of which sat empty but were still maintained by servants), Hugette lived her last 20 years in a simple hospital room.

Book Summary

This book alternates the true stories of two men connected to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair at the height of the Gilded Age. Daniel H. Burnham is the architect of the fair, responsible for constructing the famous “White City,” which attracted appearances by Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison.

Dr. Holmes erected the World’s Fair Hotel near the fairgrounds with a gas chamber and crematorium. He lured both guests and victims to his hotel with his charismatic personality.

Book Summary

At the end of the 19th century, Newland Archer is preparing to marry the beautiful and conventional May Welland. But when Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York, fresh out of a disastrous marriage, Archer falls madly in love with her. He is torn between expectations and passion as he struggles to make a decision. The consequences of his choice could either define his life or destroy it.

This book won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for its vivid portrait of the Golden Age of Old New York. The wealthy families also summer in Newport, Rhode Island, giving us a glimpse of Gilded Age life outside of the city.