This is a delightful book that provides the stories behind the stories that Henry James and Edith Wharton mined so successfully in various fictional treatments that addressed the trans-Atlantic phenomenon. Several prominent figures serve to focus this chronicle, Jennie Jerome Churchill, Consuelo Vanderbilt Churchill, Nancy Astor and Mary Curzon. Each was successful in her own way and managed to transcend the role of mere society hostess, Astor was actually the first woman to serve in Parliament. This entertaining book contains much to capture the period and is said to have served as the inspiration for Julian Fellows' creation of Downton Abbey. From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles--just like Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, the first of the Downton Abbey characters Julian Fellowes was inspired to create after reading To Marry An English Lord. Filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details--plus photographs, illustrations, quotes, and the finer points of Victorian and Edwardian etiquette--To Marry An English Lord is social history at its liveliest and most accessible
A good book to read on a Saturday afternoon after a stressful week.
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