Chamberlin Free Public Library Catalog

An American beauty : a novel of the Gilded Age /

Abe, Shana,

An American beauty : a novel of the Gilded Age / - Center Point Large Print edition. - 557 pages (large print) ; 23 cm

Regular print version previously published by Kensington Publishing Corp. Includes author's note with background information.

"1867, Richmond, Virginia: Though she wears the same low-cut purple gown that is the uniform of all the girls who work at Worsham's gambling parlor, Arabella stands apart. It's not merely her statuesque beauty and practiced charm. Even at seventeen, Arabella possesses an unyielding grit, and a resolve to escape her background of struggle and poverty. Collis Huntington, railroad baron and self-made multimillionaire, is drawn to Arabella from their first meeting. Collis is married and thirty years her senior, yet they are well-matched in temperament, and flirtation rapidly escalates into an affair. With Collis's help, Arabella eventually moves to New York, posing as a genteel, well-to-do Southern widow. Using Collis's seed money and her own shrewd investing instincts, she begins to amass a fortune. Their relationship is an open secret, and no one is surprised when Collis marries Arabella after his wife's death. But "The Four Hundred" -- the elite circle that includes the Astors and Vanderbilts -- have their rules. Arabella must earn her place in Society -- not just through her vast wealth, but with taste, style, and impeccable behavior. There are some who suspect the scandalous truth, and will blackmail her for it. And then there is another threat -- an unexpected, impossible romance that will test her ambition, her loyalties, and her heart . . ."--

9781638089971 1638089973

2023946185


Huntington, Arabella Duval, 1850 or 1851-1924 --Fiction.
Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900 --Fiction.


May-December romances--Fiction.
Upper class--Social life and customs--New York (N.Y.)--Fiction.
Businesspeople--Fiction.
Secrecy--Fiction.
Large type books.


New York (N.Y.)--History--19th century--Fiction.
New York (N.Y.)--History--20th century--Fiction.

PS3551.B329 / A76 2024

813/.54