American Heiress

by Daisy Goodwin
496 pages

Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.

I was so disappointed by this novel! If I was expected to feel sorry or emphathise with Cora, I’m sorry to say I didn’t. An American heiress who has had more tutors and etc than her English counterparts, whose mother had always prepared her to go to Europe and secure a title, didn’t have any idea of the English social scene or what would be expected of her once she got this title? At every turn she seemed to have the carpet pulled out from under her feet. I just couldn’t believe it. And there were pages and pages dedicated to folks who didn’t appear to give any other relevance to the story, other than those pages. They never showed up again, what they saw or heard never played a role in the story later on.

I kept imagining The Buccaneers, which I also didn’t like.