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(More customer reviews)Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart is an ambitious and fascinating book, but it is not without some major flaws. I would rate it four stars for the story, but only two for the writing.
Born into a prominent Southern family, Alva Erskine Smith was always ambitious, headstrong and rebellious. She spent the Civil War years in Europe, returning to New York City after the war. Unfortunately, her father suffered financial setbacks because of the war, and so it was important for Alva to marry into wealth. At this time, Commodore Vanderbilt was considered vulgar by society queen, Mrs. Astor, and excluded from NY society. Alva married the Commodore's wealthy grandson, William Kissam Vanderbilt. Soon, Alva convinced all the Vanderbilt's that they should use their money to become great patrons of the arts. She compared them to the Medici's of Florence, and encouraged them to create homes that were not only works of art, but showed good taste, culture, and the importance of the family. Soon, Mrs. Astor was knocking on their door. Her two great creations were the mansion at 660 Fifth Avenue in NYC and Marble House in Newport, RI.
Alva's other great work of art was her only daughter, Consuelo. Consuelo was a beautiful heiress and one of the most eligible girls at the time. Alva forced Consuelo to break a secret engagement to Winthrop Rutherfurd in order to marry the 9th Duke of Marlborough. The marriage was orchestrated for a number of reasons, but mainly to provide acceptance to the newly divorced Alva and to provide Vanderbilt millions to the cash-strapped duke.
Unfortunately, Stuart had errors and mistakes too numerous to mention. First, there were research errors. Tsarina Alexandra is the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, not a great granddaughter. Also, Stuart implies that Winthrop Rutherfurd was a gold digger, and that both his wives were wealthy socialites. Lucy Mercer may have come from a prominent family, but she wasn't wealthy. In fact, that is why Lucy ended up employed as Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary, which led to her affair with Franklin D. Roosevelt. It makes me wonder about the accuracy of all Stuart's research. There were also major spelling, vocabulary and grammatical errors. The last course of a meal is spelled dessert. She inappropriately describes a pearl choker of Consuelo's as being "infamous." And Stuart has problems with subject-verb agreement as in "the French army were having no success." Also, army in this instance should be capitalized. I noticed that some items in the index weren't always correct with page numbers. And the book was filled with many, many French words and phrases with no translations. Taken as a whole, these things detracted from my enjoyment of the book and I wondered where her editor was on this.
Still, Consuelo and Alva covers a fascinating time in both American and European history. Alva and Consuelo grew up in the middle of the Gilded Age, and when Consuelo moved to England, she witnessed the end of the Victorian and the Edwardian Eras. Stuart also takes us through both World Wars. Alva became a very active, generous and sometimes militant participant in the Suffrage Movement. While living in the "gilded cage," they both desired something more. "Alva ultimately rejected the caged life herself, though she tried ruling it first." Consuelo desired to "step outside the cage, without wishing to leave it completely." And while Alva grew to detest society, she could never abdicate the power that came from having a fortune at her disposal. They both also had to juggle what should be the role of women and what was best to make them happy.
Overall, I enjoyed Consuelo and Alva. Unfortunately, I felt that Stuart's errors kept this from being a truly great book.
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