Synopses & Reviews
The New York love story of a beautiful heiress and a wealthy young architect, captured in a famous John Singer Sargent painting In Love, Fiercely Jean Zimmerman re-creates the glittering world of Edith Minturn and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes. Contemporaries of the Astors and Vanderbilts, they grew up together along the shores of bucolic Staten Island, linked by privilegeand#8212;her grandparents built the worldand#8217;s fastest clipper ship, his family owned most of Murray Hill. Theirs was a world filled with mansions, balls, summer homes, and extended European vacations.
Newton became a passionate preserver of New York history and published the finest collection of Manhattan maps and views in a six-volume series. Edith became the face of the age when Daniel Chester French sculpted her for Chicagoand#8217;s Columbian Exposition, a colossus intended to match the Statue of Libertyand#8217;s grandeur. Together Edith and Newton battled on behalf of New Yorkand#8217;s poor and powerless as reformers who never themselves wanted for anything. Through it all, they sustained a strong-rooted marriage.
From the splendid cottages of the Berkshires to the salons of 1890s Paris, Love, Fiercely is the real story of a world long relegated to fiction.
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“Impeccably researched . . . Mackenzie Stuarts history marshals an impressive trove of primary documents.” The New Yorker
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“Fascinating... A thoughtful portrait of two strong, well-educated women who were more than the measure of their extreme wealth.” Seattle Times
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“A saga of transatlantic maneuvers worthy of Henry James or Edith Wharton.” Kirkus Reviews
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“Compellingly readable… [Mackenzie Stuart] writes... with the eye of an accomplished historian and with profound sympathy for the central figures.” Richmond Times-Dispatch
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“Riveting . . . [An] excellent biography . . . Mackenzie Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subjects.” Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Times Book Review
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“Book lovers, Anglophiles and social historians alike will find much to please them in this fine, well-researched biography.” Virginian Pilot
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“Mackenzie Stuart has skillfully integrated a great deal of research... and she gives a rich sense of both women.” Washington Post Book World
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“highly readable, well constructed, novelish biography…a confident and compelling book.” Contemporary Review
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“Skilfully and sympathetically told. . . . Brilliant.” Antonia Fraser, The Times (London)
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“[A] fascinating dual biography.” Elle
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“Astute. . . . A lively narrative. . . . Written with impressive verve and confidence.” Newsday
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“An intimate look at two women whose lives reveal changing social patterns. Just fascinating.” USA Today
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“A riveting story... Alva and Consuelo emerge as unique and fascinating characters... A very entertaining read.” Publishers Weekly
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“[A] deftly contextualized account.” Vogue
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Love, Fiercely is an exquisitely-rendered portrait of passion and privilege in the Gilded Age."
and#8212;Deborah Davis, author of Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X Demonstrating the same flare as in her previous biography, Zimmerman (The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty) pays respect to the lives and times of Edith Minturn Stokes and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes. Edith and Newton, as he was called, who married in 1895, were born in New York to immense privilege and became patrons of the arts and advocates for immigrant rights. The two knew each other as children and eventually fell in love. Newton, a respected architect in his own right, pulled together a massive multivolume documentary history, The Iconography of Manhattan Island, and Edith worked for many charitable organizations. Zimmerman chronicles their personal lives and love, from the heights of financial success to the depths of deteriorating health and wealth, while also encapsulating the era in which they lived. VERDICT With an impressive amount of research behind every page, Zimmerman manages to capture the sweeping drama of the turn of the century as well as the compelling story of a couple who knew how to love, fiercely. Her superb pacing and gripping narrative will appeal to all who enjoy history, biography, and real-life romance.--Library Journal
Synopsis
November 6, 1895 marked a major event on the New York City social calendar -- a wedding that was the talk of two continents. On paper, this was a dazzling matrimonial pairing: the Duke of Marlborough, the most eligible peer in England, was to marry Consuelo Vanderbilt, granddaughter of the richest man in America. But when the future Duchess arrived at St. Thomas's Church on Fifth Avenue, her face, hidden by her bridal veil, was swollen with tears.
Amanda Mackenzie Stuart, in her dual biography of Consuelo and her mother Alva, describes a world where wealth, glamour and excess were part of everyday life. But the two women were more than glittery symbols of the Gilded Age. Consuelo would became known for her philanthropy and support of social and political causes, and her mother, once an ardent social climber, would become an equally dedicated supporter of women's suffrage. Mackenzie Stuart offers a fascinating account of how two women managed to break free from the emptiness of wealth and social ambition and find a more fulfilling existence.
Amanda Mackenzie Stuart took a first-class degree in history at the University of York. She has written historical screenplays, and written and produced award-winning independent films. This is her first book.
"Riveting ... An] excellent biography ... Mackenzie Stuart narrates with an elegance equal to her subject's." -- Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Times Book Review
--Elle
Synopsis
"A dual life story that reads as pleasurably as the best fiction but with all the intelligence of a first-rate biography. . . . completely absorbing."--Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
The granddaughter of the richest man in America, Consuelo Vanderbilt was the prize catch of New York Society. But her socially ambitious mother, Alva, was adamant that her daughter should make a grand marriage, and the underfunded Duke of Marlborough was just the thing--even though Consuelo loved someone else.
The story of these two women is not simply one of empty wealth, Gilded Age glamour, and of enterprising social ambition. Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt is also a fascinating account of how two women struggled to break free from the deeply materialistic, stifling world into which they were born, taking up the fight for female equality. In this brilliant and engrossing book, Amanda Mackenzie Stuart suggests that behind the most famous transatlantic marriage lies an extraordinary tale of the quest for female power.
Synopsis
When Consuelo Vanderbilt's grandfather died, he was the richest man in America. Her father soon started to spend the family fortune, enthusiastically supported by Consuelo's mother, Alva, who was determined to take the family to the top of New York society—forcing a heartbroken Consuelo into a marriage she did not want with the underfunded Duke of Marlborough. But the story of Consuelo and Alva is more than a tale of enterprising social ambition, Gilded Age glamour, and the emptiness of wealth. It is a fascinating account of two extraordinary women who struggled to break free from the world into which they were born—a world of materialistic concerns and shallow elitism in which females were voiceless and powerless—and of their lifelong dedication to noble and dangerous causes and the battle for women's rights.
Synopsis
The Gilded Age New York love storyand#160;of aand#160;beautiful heiress who fought forand#160; women's rights and a wealthy young architect, who were captured in the John Singer Sargent painting Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes.
About the Author
Jean Zimmerman is the author ofandnbsp;fourandnbsp;previous books, including The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune and a Dynasty. Sheandnbsp;earned an MFA in writing from the Columbia University School of the Arts and has published her poetry widely in literary magazines. She lives with her family in Westchester County, New York.
Table of Contents
Prologueand#160;xi
Part One
Enchanted Woodsand#160;3
Flying Cloudand#160;13
Madison to the Riverand#160;34
Big Maryand#160;52
The Howling Swelland#160;69
The Personal as the Politicaland#160;82
Grand Mistakesand#160;94
Rich and Romanticand#160;105
Part Two
A Pleasure to Paint Her Portraitand#160;119
The American Girl Herselfand#160;136
For Richer or Poorerand#160;158
Smaller Castlesand#160;181
Pretty Mannersand#160;192
Part Three
Silent Bearers of Many a Half-Read Messageand#160;205
A Fine Object Lesson in Good Constructionand#160;220
Something in the Nature of the Marvelousand#160;244
No Other City Will Live in the Future
as New York Willand#160;261
Our Goddessand#160;278
Epilogueand#160;285
Select Bibliographyand#160;290
Acknowledgmentsand#160;296
Indexand#160;298