Thanks to my wonderful agent, Julie Gwinn, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Vinspire Publishing for a trilogy of Gilded Age historical romances!
Did you love Downton Abbey? Me, too!
And if you love all things Downton, then you may enjoy my new Hearts of Gold series.
Consuelo Vanderbilt, the original “dollar princess,” was the inspiration for my character Lindy in the first book of the series, A Test of Gold.
Mark Twain and Charles Dudley coined the name “Gilded Age” in their 1873 book, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. It referred to the process of gilding an object with a layer of gold. It lampooned greed and corruption, the underbelly of the Gilded Age.
The Gilded Age lasted roughly from post-Civil War to World War I.
A dollar princess referred to an American heiress, often from newly wealthy families, who married a title-rich but cash-poor British nobleman.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, was a dollar princess. Huge estates like Downton Abbey required large infusions of cash to keep going, and Cora brought a significant dowry to Downton.
Jenny Jerome, another real-life dollar princess, was the mother of Winston Churchill.
However, most of the stories of these young heiresses, who left their homes and country for England, didn’t end happily.
When writing historical romance, however, a happy ending is the author’s choice!
Here is a short tease for A Test of Gold:
In late 19th century New York City, Evangeline Lindenmayer, called Lindy, has been raised in the wealth and sheltered splendor of Fifth Avenue.
Her social-climbing mother, Vera, has big plans plans to marry Lindy to an English duke, trading the family’s nouveau riche cash to gain a royal title for the Lindenmayer family.
Lindy’s father, unaware that his daughter spends all her free time in the library, loans the use of it to Jack Winthrop, a middle-class seminary student.
When Lindy falls in love with Jack, she’ll need all the courage and determination she possesses to defy her battleaxe of a mother and find true love.
The research for this story fascinated me. I learned about the ball gowns created by famous designer Charles Worth of Paris, drooled over Amazing Gilded Age jewels, and imagined wearing a corset to achieve the hourglass figure so popular at the time.
I can’t wait to introduce you to Lindy!
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