Book Review: The American Heiress

My friend Al recommended The American Heiress, by Daisy Goodwin, and I must not have been paying attention when she recommended it because when I picked it up after a long weekend at the beach I was preparing myself for a dull historical nonfiction, with boring descriptions of opulence.

While there are descriptions of opulence, nothing about this book is boring. Nor is it nonfiction. It is instead a novel about a fictional American Heiress who meets and marries an English Duke at the height of the gilded age.

The story is of their meeting, marriage, and first year of marriage. It is rife with all the usual plot points, he has no money, she believes to be marrying for love, mothers who are pushy, former lovers, people who wish to be your lover at inopportune times, etc etc. If you've seen The Duchess with Keira Knightley you'll understand this book (though its set at a different time, and is a very different story).

I read this on a boring, rainy Wednesday, in which I also read a magazine, took care of a sick cat, blogged, cooked, and made a birthday wish list for Tallman. So despite being very heavy, this book was a bit of a quick read, mostly because I wanted to know what happens.
Thus I recommend it. If you enjoy this sort of thing, you will really enjoy this book. (That makes sense, right?)