7 Must Read Historical Fiction Novels Set During The Gilded Age

If America had had a royal family in the late 1800s and early 1900s, I’d like to think they’d be the Vanderbilts or the Astors. There is something about the Gilded Age that is so fascinating to me — the opulence, the Astors, the Vanderbilts, the gossip, society, the 400, and debutantes. So if you’re in anything like me, you’ll love these 7 historical fiction novels set in the Gilded Age.

Social Graces

This novel throws back the curtain on one of the most remarkable feuds in history: Alva Vanderbilt and the Mrs. Astor’s notorious battle for control of New York society during the Gilded Age.

A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts

The riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York.

American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt

Before there was Meghan Markle, there was Consuelo Vanderbilt, the original American Duchess. 

The Heiress Gets a Duke

Even a fortune forged in railroads and steel can’t buy entrance into the upper echelons of Victorian high society–for that you need a marriage of convenience.

The Address

A captivating novel about the thin lines between love and loss, success and ruin, passion and madness, all hidden behind the walls of The Dakota—New York City’s most famous residence.

Under a Gilded Moon: A Novel

An enthralling novel of secrets, a tumultuous war of ideas, and murder as classes collide in the shadow of Biltmore House.

The American Heiress: A Novel

Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England.

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