'Captivating . . . I dare you not to dive right in' Paula McClain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife

'Nothing short of mesmerising' Kirkus

'This is a wonderful book! Fowler's portrait is so nuanced, so complicated by context, and so informed by her own capacious generosity that we can't help being drawn in' Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

'A must-read masterpiece' Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You

OUTSPOKEN. BRAVE. BRILLIANT. FIERCE.

Alva Smith, her Southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America's great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Ignored by New York's old-money circles and determined to win respect, she designed and built nine mansions, hosted grand balls, and arranged for her daughter to marry a duke. But Alva also defied convention for women of her time, asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the women's suffrage movement.

With a nod to Jane Austen and Edith Wharton, Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman.

GOOD BEHAVIOUR WILL ONLY GET A WOMAN SO FAR.

Optioned by Sony Pictures Television.

*PRAISE FOR Z: A NOVEL OF ZELDA FITZGERALD, A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

'Brilliant. Read it, read it, read it' Daily Mail
'Superb' Independent on sunday
'Utterly compulsive reading' Stylist
'A treat' Sunday Times