Gilded Age - Paperback

by Claire McMillan (Author)

From the bestselling author of Alchemy of a Blackbird comes a powerful retelling of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth following a woman's return to the hothouse of Cleveland society that revives rivalries, raises eyebrows, and reveals the tender vulnerabilities of her struggle to reconcile her desire for independence and her need for love.Clevelanders of a certain class are expected to leave home for college, find a spouse, then return home to raise their children in the social milieu they were born into. This is a world of old money, family silver, opening nights at the symphony, and country house weekends. So when beautiful, unconventional Ellie Hart comes home without a husband, Cleveland society begins to whisper. Ellie Hart had made a brilliant marriage in New York, but it ended in a scandalous divorce and thirty days in Sierra Tucson rehab. Back home, she finds that no amount of feminist lip service can hide the fact that a woman still needs a husband to be socially complete in Cleveland. Now Ellie must navigate the treacherous social terrain where old money meets new: charitable benefits and tequila body shots, inherited diamonds and viper-bite lip piercings, country house weekends and sexting. She finds that her beauty is a powerful tool in this world, but it has its limitations, even liabilities. Through one misstep after another, Ellie mishandles her second act. Her options narrow, her future prospects contract, until she finally faces a desperate choice. With a keen eye for the perfect detail and a heart big enough to embrace those she observes, Gilded Age is a revelatory story about class, gender, and the timeless conundrum of femininity.

Author Biography

Claire McMillan is the author of Alchemy of a Blackbird, Gilded Age, and The Necklace. She was the 2017-2018 Cuyahoga County Writer-in-Residence and currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in Lenox, Massachusetts. She practiced law until 2003 and then received her MFA in creative writing from Bennington College. She grew up in Pasadena, California, and now lives on her husband's family farm outside of Cleveland, Ohio, with their two children.