Book No. 32 of 2025
I had the absolute best time reading this book just off the heels of the latest season of The Gilded Age. The entire thing feels delightfully gossipy and relevant—I am pretty on board with the theory that we’re living in a new Gilded Age—and is stuffed with so many fun (and shocking) facts that for days I was just reciting things I learned from this book at my husband.
The book is primarily focused on the American Gilded Age heiresses who married into European and British aristocracy—there is surprising analysis on why these transactional marriages happened, and what these heiresses and their families’ lives looked like afterwards—and of course this focus serves as a vector for understanding the larger context of what was going on in history at that time. (Record income inequality, inflation, and class resentment: now where have I heard that one before?)
A must-read for anyone who watches the HBO show—and in fact, you might get a little mad at Julian Fellowes for simplifying or misrepresenting things entirely—and a big recommend for history nerds or lovers of gossip regardless.
Similar Reads
The insider-gossip vibe of the book, as well as the analysis of royal and aristocratic marriages, reminds me of Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers.
I was also reminded of Catherine Hewitt’s The Mistress of Paris.
The history-of-marriage aspect, which I find fascinating, reminds me of Rebecca Traister’s All the Single Ladies and Beth L. Bailey’s From Front Porch to Back Seat.