The American Heiress

I really, really enjoyed this book! Daisy Goodwin has created an intriguing story around a very interesting group of characters in a beautifully written novel. If you're a Downton Abbey fan, this book is a must read.

Cora Cash (how great a name is that?) is a late-19th-century American heiress - very beautiful and very nouveau riche - whose mother has decided that only an English noblemen is worthy of her daughter's hand in marriage. When Cora manages to snare a desirable but impoverished Duke, in a (seemingly) love match no less, it's the coup of the year. But then Cora discovers that English society is not as upright and honorable as it appears to be, and that her husband's affections may lie elsewhere.

Okay, so the story sounds a little Jane Austen-y, and little Bronte-esque, but that's what makes it so appealing. Goodwin has managed to bring a modern sensibility to an old world style. And she tells the story from an upstairs/downstairs perspective, where we see that sometimes the servants are snobbier than their employers, and sometimes a lady's maid is a better person than a peer. There's also the juxtaposition of American forthrightness - openness, eye contact, handshakes - with British subterfuge.

This is just a delicious story, and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

The American Heiress