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Book Review of The American Heiress (aka My Last Duchess)

The American Heiress (aka My Last Duchess)
kkowert avatar reviewed on + 44 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


The Cash family has made their money the American way with hard work and some good luck. Mrs. Cash has more money than she can ever spend but she only wants one thing to be part of society. She throws the most lavish balls in Newport and lives the Gilded Age lifestyle to the hilt; however she wants to be completely accepted by the most significant people in Newport. Mrs. Astor doesnt deem her parties important enough to attend. Mrs. Cash thinks she can buy her way into polite society by marrying her beautiful young daughter, Cora Cash, to an Englishman with a title.

This story is fun, frivolous reading with good period detail of the excesses of the Newport, Rhode Island lifestyle in 1890s. When the Cash family heads to England and Cora falls off her horse and just happens to be rescured by an eligible bachelor with a title of duke, the story becomes a little too predictable. The characters are a little too stereotypical the English are cool, uncaring and snobby while the Americans are unsophisticated dont know how to act around royalty. There was too much repetition about how rich Cora Cash was and how dilapidated the British estates were.