Looking back, we weren’t always kind to Alva, though she wasn’t always at her best with us, either. We sometimes mocked her, shunned her, gossiped about her ad nauseam. We thought she was too brash, too controversial, too overpowering, and oftentimes, she was. But there were other times—moments—when she was daring and spectacularly brave. We hadn’t always had the foresight back then to see where she was heading, where she was leading us. And as it’s turned out, her courage eventually made us more courageous, too. She cracked the door open, and we’ve been crossing that threshold ever since.
We are the wives and daughters of wealthy men, but now we are no longer defined by that. And neither are our daughters. Look how far we’ve come, and just you wait and see where we’ll go from here.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
One of the greatest challenges I faced in writing this book was bringing Caroline Astor and Alva Vanderbilt to life and making them relatable to readers. On paper, they were both obsessed with society and matters that frankly seemed so frivolous and comical. I really needed to dig deeper and deeper to find out what made these people tick and to humanize them.
In some cases, the material was available, despite a lot of contradictory “facts” in the various source materials. Oftentimes there was no information, so I had to fill in a good many blanks myself, and it is in that spirit that I’ll attempt to separate the fact from the fiction in this novel.
Caroline’s relationship with her mother was a driving force of Caroline’s development. While it’s true that her mother lost six of her nine children, the dynamics between mother and daughter were those of my own imaginings and not based on any documented events or findings.
It’s also true that Caroline’s daughters did give her a run for her money. Emily married James Van Alen only after General Van Alen had challenged William Astor to a duel. James Van Alen was a bit of a laughingstock who did indeed speak with a phony British accent and wear a fake monocle. Sadly, Emily did die in childbirth in 1881. Helen was the only daughter with a “respectable” marriage by Caroline’s standards and she, too, died young, in 1893 of unknown causes. Charlotte was a spirited rebel. While her relationship with Duncan Briar is fictional, her scandalous love affair with Hallett Borrowe was real and went viral Gilded Age–style with the publication of her love letters. She did abandon her children and flee to Europe, and William did go to bring her back. What is less clear is whether Caroline accompanied him. For the sake of the narrative, I have opted to place Caroline with him. One thing we know for sure is that William did die while in London trying to rescue his daughter. That brings us to the youngest daughter, Carrie. Caroline’s namesake was used as a pawn for Alva’s famous masquerade ball, and Carrie was instrumental in Caroline’s recognizing the Vanderbilts in society. Also, Carrie did go on a hunger strike when her parents opposed her marriage to Orme Wilson. I do not know that they ever had to induce feeding, but I do know that Caroline gave in and Carrie married him and lived happily ever after.
Ward McAllister’s life and memoir have been widely documented, and many of his most outrageous quotes in this novel came directly from him verbatim. He did call Caroline “my Mystic Rose” and was her co-conspirator in all things society up until the publication of the Four Hundred and Society as I Have Found It.
Caroline Astor actually was out of town on the night of the opening of the Metropolitan Opera House, perhaps because she knew the Academy of Music couldn’t compete with the new house. However, in order to show the juxtaposition of the two, I have taken creative license and placed Mrs. Astor at the Academy on that same night.
With regards to the Met, I have attributed much of its creation to Alva, and while it’s true that Billy Vanderbilt, her father-in-law, was one of the founding members, Alva most likely played a much smaller role in its development. She was, however, hands-on in every aspect of the creation of Petit Chateau, Marble House and other Vanderbilt properties. She fancied herself an unlicensed architect.
The string of outrageous themed balls really did occur. The chimpanzee ball has been attributed to various hostesses, mainly Mamie Fish and Alva Vanderbilt. Here again the source materials contradict themselves and so, in keeping with Mamie’s character, it seemed more likely to me that Mamie would have hosted the party.
Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt was the ne’er-do-well son of the family. Afflicted with epilepsy, he was institutionalized by his father, the Commodore. He was a compulsive gambler and did contest the Commodore’s will after learning he’d inherited only $200,000. He was a homosexual and did commit suicide. While all that is true, I did take some license in terms of Jeremiah’s relationship with Alva. I cast the two as outsiders that formed a tight bond between them. There is no documentation of their having a close relationship. Also, in the novel, for the sake of pacing, I moved the timeline of Jeremiah’s death from April of 1882 to March of 1883.
Much speculation has been cast upon Alva’s marriage to Willie K. Vanderbilt. We know that he had several affairs while they were married, and here again, the facts become a bit sketchy. Some say Nellie Neustratter was a plant to distract from his real relationship with Alva’s best friend, the Duchess of Manchester. Others say Nellie was just another one of his mistresses. For the purpose of this book, I chose to follow the historical account that had him involved with both women. Also please note that the nickname Duchy was my own invention in order to distinguish between the two Consuelos in the book. There are varying accounts of when Alva’s affair with Willie’s best friend, Oliver Belmont, began. I placed it where I thought it worked best in the narrative, but the truth remains that after her scandalous divorce, she did turn around and marry Oliver.
Speaking of marriages, Consuelo Vanderbilt’s marriage to the ninth Duke of Marlborough has been well documented and recounted. For that reason, I chose not only to focus on the outlandish things Alva did to orchestrate the marriage, but to dig a little deeper and speculate as to how a mother who loved her daughter dearly could have justified such actions.
The ladies featured in the Society chapters are a combination of real and fictional characters. It should be noted that history recognizes two Lady Pagets: Minnie Stevens, an American heiress and socialite, is the Lady Paget in this novel. There is no record of her having been a vegetarian. That was borrowed from the other Lady Paget (born Countess Walburga Ehrengarde Helena von Hohenthal), who often wrote on the subject of vegetarianism.
Much research went into the writing and rewriting of this book. In addition to reading and watching various documentaries and movies from this time period (see complete list below), I went to Newport to see the cottages—which are breathtaking. While there, we ventured onto Cliff Walk, ignoring the signs that read STAY ON THE PAVED PATH. STEEP CLIFFS. HIGH RISK OF INJURY. PASS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I was not wearing the right shoes and had many close calls. I’d probably still be stranded out there now had John, my partner in crime, not practically carried me over the rugged terrain. It was that experience that led to the scene where Alva rescues Emily.