The Social Graces
Book Feature - The Social Graces by Renee Rosen
HBL Note: I adore Renee Rosen, and her books. I’ve featured or reviewed several of her titles, including Windy City Blues and Park Avenue Summer. I also had the opportunity to meet Renee right before the world shut down due to the pandemic. She was speaking at the Blackstone Hotel as part of the Making Herstory speaker series, which was a showcase of a variety of leading women in different industries including spirits, literature and art. I’m hoping once we are on the other side of this pandemic, we can get together again (with our mutual friend, author Stacey Ballis!)
When I heard Renee was coming out with a book about the Vanderbilts, I very nearly asked her to send the book to me as a word document because I couldn’t wait to read it. The Vanderbilts are such a fascinating family. I think the first book I read about them was A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler. Very shortly after that, I read American Duchess by Karen Harper, about Alva’s daughter Consuelo Vanderbilt. If you loved those books as much as I did, you won’t want to miss Renee Rosen’s THE SOCIAL GRACES. Scroll down to read more.
Book Feature - The Social Graces by Renee Rosen
From the publisher:
1876. In the glittering world of Manhattan's upper crust, women are valued by their pedigree, dowry, and, most importantly, connections. They have few rights and even less independence—what they do have is society. The more celebrated the hostess, the more powerful the woman. And none is more powerful than Caroline Astor—the Mrs. Astor.
But times are changing.
Alva Vanderbilt has recently married into one of America's richest families. But what good is dizzying wealth when society refuses to acknowledge you? Alva, who knows what it is to have nothing, will do whatever it takes to have everything.
Sweeping three decades and based on true events, this is the mesmerizing story of two fascinating, complicated women going head to head, behaving badly, and discovering what’s truly at stake.
