Dear Voracious Readers,
Welcome back to The Gilded Age! The season 4 premiere has hit our screens, bringing all the splendor, sophistication and drama we viewers could ever want.
As always, I’m drawn in by Christine Baranski’s incredible performance as Agnes van Rhijn, and I’m on the edge of my seat to see how the will-they-won’t-they romance between Marian and Larry plays out. Not to mention my surprise by the Matt Damon and David Letterman cameo we had in this season premiere!
But my favorite aspect of the show continues to be the titular Gilded Age itself — the days of robber barons and railroad tycoons, of the dollar princesses of America and the titled landowners across the pond, and of tensions between the old money and the new that simmered just barely beneath the surface. Such a volatile period in history serves as the perfect setting for an enthralling story — both on the TV screen and within the pages of a book.
Here are three pieces of Gilded Age-adjacent reading material — trendsetting reads that shake up society, that grab your attention and refuse to let go.
Peregrine Hill by Nina de Gramont
This latest work from the author of The Christie Affair echoes with the familiar high-stakes marital games that Gilded Age fans know so well. After the widow Isabelle Bishop loses most of her family in a tragic shipwreck, she’ll do anything to secure a future for her remaining daughter and aging mother — and in the dawn of the 20th century, that means marrying well. She soon catches the eye of John Whitten, one of New York’s wealthiest men, only to realize his attentions are not at all as virtuous as she may have hoped. Releasing this coming Tuesday, Peregrine Hill gives readers a glimpse into the struggles of women of those times, and how a cage is a cage, no matter how gilded its bars.
The Colony Club by Shelley Noble
This 2024 release from bestselling author Shelley Noble explores the possible origins of the Colony Club, the women-only private social club of Gilded Age-era New York City. When the unaccompanied Daisy Harriman is refused a room at the Waldorf, she decides to establish a place where women can stay and socialize together. She soon gains the help of actress Elsie de Wolfe and the aspiring architect Nora Bromely. But when the women’s plans are stained by a murderous scandal, the Colony Club looks like it might remain a far-off dream — unless the three of them can manage to shake off the era’s oppressive expectations and achieve the impossible.
The Three Lives of Mary Sutton by Allyson Johnson
This title is for those who wonder what things were like for the Gilded Age people whose lives weren’t quite so dazzling. Starting off in 1878, Allyson Johnson’s book introduces us to sisters Mame and Lizzie Sutton, who both have just made hasty marriages to escape their father’s tyrannical rule. Mame weds a charming but traditional-thinking stage manager of a New York theatre, Lizzie elopes with a young Jewish jeweler who remains financially dependent on his family. This debut skillfully examines the ways in which women’s freedoms were limited during the Gilded Age — and the ways in which they managed to rebel.
Eager for more? Find our full line-up of Gilded Age reads here.
Happy reading,
Meryl Moss, Publisher, BookTrib
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