American Duchess by Karen Harper (TLC Book Tour)

Consuelo Vanderbilt is a beautiful young girl in love during the springtime of her life.  But her strong-willed mother, Alva, does not want Consuelo to marry her true love and has her sights set much higher.  Alva has decided Consuelo must marry to build her family’s prestige using their wealth to entice a titled suitor.  Alva takes Consuelo on a European tour and Consuelo meets the Duke of Marlborough, the only non-royal in England to own a palace.  Consuelo is horrified to discover that her mother has set her sights on making Consuelo the future Duchess of Marlborough.  How will she survive marrying a man she doesn’t love?

American Duchess is told from a first-person point of view as Consuelo navigates her life.  It tells her story from a teen through her life as an older woman.  She had quite the adventure as a Duchess and a lifetime goal of helping others.  She was a loving mother and really wanted to find true love in her life.  She also worked on repairing the difficult relationship she had with her mother.  I also was very intrigued with her friendship with her husband’s cousin, Winston Churchill.

My favorite part of the novel was the end of the novel as Consuelo and her second husband Jacques escape from France as the Nazis invade.  It was a harrowing and fast paced read.  I enjoyed this novel, but I did kind of wish the rest of the novel would have been written with this intensity.  With so much packed into this book, sometimes the focus was lost.  In particular with Consuelo and the Duke’s relationship.  The difficulties between the two were not that pronounced in this novel.

I also thought the first chapter did an excellent job of pulling the reader into the story with Consuelo breaking down and being forced into her marriage with the Duke. She was in a horrible situation.

The end of the novel also has a section about the author, the inspiration and sources for the book, and a reading discussion guide.  I always enjoy this additional information, especially for a historical fiction novel.

I am a giant fan of Downton Abbey.  This book really reminded me of that series, Consuelo would have been a contemporary of Cora from Downton Abbey.  I also love the novel The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton and I loved that Wharton is a character in this novel.

Favorite Quotes:

 “’I like the sighing sound of the wind in the big trees here,’ he said, and I realized that was the most romantic, poetic thing he had ever said to me.”

Overall, American Duchess tells the story of a remarkable woman, Consuelo Vanderbilt, and her life journey through intriguing times in our history.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow Books for being a part of the TLC Book Tour.  Thank-you!  For more stops on this tour, please check out this link.

About American Duchess

• Hardcover: 368 pages • Publisher: William Morrow (February 26, 2019) Before there was Meghan Markle, there was Consuelo Vanderbilt, the original American Duchess. Perfect for readers of Jennifer Robson and lovers of Downton Abbey. Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold.” On a cold November day in 1895, a carriage approaches St Thomas Episcopal Church on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Massive crowds surge forward, awaiting their glimpse of heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt. Just 18, the beautiful bride has not only arrived late, but in tears, yet her marriage to the aloof Duke of Marlborough proceeds. Bullied into the wedding by her indomitable mother, Alva, Consuelo loves another. But a deal was made, trading some of the vast Vanderbilt wealth for a title and prestige, and Consuelo, bred to obey, realizes she must make the best of things. At Blenheim Palace, Consuelo is confronted with an overwhelming list of duties, including producing an “heir and a spare,” but her relationship with the duke quickly disintegrates. Consuelo finds an inner strength, charming everyone from debutantes to diplomats including Winston Churchill, as she fights for women’s suffrage. And when she takes a scandalous leap, can she hope to attain love at last…? From the dawning of the opulent Gilded Age, to the battles of the Second World War, American Duchess is a riveting tale of one woman’s quest to attain independence—at any price.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Karen Harper

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author KAREN HARPER is a former Ohio State University instructor and high school English teacher. Published since 1982, she writes contemporary suspense and historical novels about real British women. Two of her recent Tudor-era books were bestsellers in the UK and Russia. Harper won the Mary Higgins Clark Award for Dark Angel, and her novel Shattered Secrets was judged one of the best books of the year by Suspense Magazine. Find out more about Karen at her website, and connect with her on Facebook.

The Royal Nanny by Karen Harper

Charlotte Bill has been newly hired as an assistant nanny for the children of the Duke and Duchess of York.  The Duke is the grandson of Queen Victoria, and her young charges are the future heirs of the throne of England.  Charlotte, or Lala as she is fondly called by her young charges, finds that the children are living under a heavy hand of terror from the head nanny.  She helps to comfort them and raise them, becoming more of a mother than the mother they see for one hour each day.  Along the way, Charlotte also has to decide, what does she want in life?  Does she want to have romance and a family of her own, or does she want to remain the stable figure in her young charges’ lives?

I found The Royal Nanny to be fascinating and compelling.  Lala loves the children and tries to give them the love that they are missing in their everyday lives from their parents. I loved the daily routines of the royal family.  I also loved learning more about the children who would one day become King Edward VIII and George VI.  Their treatment and personalities as children were intriguing and made me want to watch the excellent film The King’s Speech again to bring the story to when they had grown up.  I also loved how Edward VIII’s (otherwise known as David) personality mimicked that of his fun and woman loving grandfather, Edward VII.  I also loved the other children, especially Prince John.  Johnny was born with special needs and Lala was there to love him as he couldn’t be loved or displayed by his royal family.  Johnny’s story and all of the children’s stories were sad to me, particularly when they are separated from their core family.

I loved Lala’s story and her inner turmoil as she longs for forbidden love from groundskeeper Chad.  I thought she was a strong character who was able to fully assert herself in her role as the Nanny and to help the children she loved best, but also to have feelings and longings outside of that realm.

The Royal Nanny is perfect for readers missing Downton Abbey.  It starts before Downton Abbey, but goes through the years through the Great War.  It also is a great story of the relationships developed between the royal family and the people who served them.  I especially liked the side story of the Russian Tsar Nicholas’s family and their beloved English nanny.  I also loved how the story showed the complex family relationships during WWI with English, Germany, and Russia ruled by cousins.

The Royal Nanny hit a little too close to home as I finished reading it last week.  There is a tragedy that mirrored a personal one experienced by my best friend last week.  Needless to say, there was a line that started one of the last chapters that pierced my heart.  I thought the chapter before was a bit melodramatic until my best friend experienced it herself. 

I enjoyed the extras at the end of the novel including a fascinating author’s note on the real history (one of my favorite parts of this novel!), and book club questions.

My favorite quotes:

“’Bothers me a bit, though,’ she confided, lowering her voice, ‘that if Their Highnesses pass by in the hall, we’re to turn our faces to the wall and stay still – mostly never to be seen.’” – I find this behavior to be both strange and fascinating.

“Though I kept my hand on Johnnie’s arm, I turned to look closer at Chad’s Penelope.  In the flickering firelight from the hearth, it was as if a little angel had come to greet us.  She had curly, white blond hair, wide blue eyes, and a guileless face.” – This description sounds like my daughter Penelope.

“Was it true that the hand that rocks the cradle rule the world?”

Overall, The Royal Nanny was a captivating novel that I couldn’t put down.  It was a very interesting historical fiction novel into a glimpse of the royal family history that I didn’t know much about.  It had a great setting at Sandringham castle and absorbing characters.  I highly recommend it, especially if you are a Downton Abbey fan.

Book Source:  A review copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!