An Heiress to Remember: The Gilded Age Girls Club

Beatrice and Wes were young and in love, with only a few problems. She was raised to marry well, preferably a Duke and rise to the heights of society. Wes was born in the slums and only hard work, ambition and Bea’s father seeing some promise in him offered him a step to middle class. But, as a match: they were never to be. She married her Duke, he left hurt, angry and paid off – and never the two should meet. Until Beatrice, fed up with the cage that marriage to the Duke represented, beaten down and chastised for simply being decided that she wanted a divorce and left England as a scandalous woman. Returning home to find that her family’s store had been mismanaged to the point of bankruptcy by her alcoholic brother, and there is one man looking to buy everything: Wes. Stopping the sale and on the urging of her dressmaker Amelia, she visits with the peculiar group of women who, without their husband’s knowledge or consent (those who have husbands) have been working to improve the plight of women for years now. Armed with ideas, some sound reasoning and an investment, Bea decides to turn the store around and make a ‘haven’ to cater to women – a store unlike others with wages paid to women that are more than half a man’s wage, childcare, retreat spaces and innovative and new ideas to spark change for all. Like the others in this series, the women and the changes they are making are taking the city by storm and making this a favorite series!. Still some 20 years or more from the vote, these women – some of means and others with little means but loaded with determination and ideas, have managed to carve a solid following as success follows success: Beatrice’s store in direct competition with Wes Dalton’s – widely thought to be the best in the city brings a series of changes to everyone involved. Freedoms to Bea, a new purpose to Wes that discounts his sixteen years focused only on revenge, and the recognition that the two of them, together are a match to be reckoned with. Like all of Rodale’s stories, the connections, the determination of the women, and the descriptions are lovely, and the struggles faced by women just a century and some years earlier are highlighted and depicted from both sides – as some men come to see the error of their ways, other women find themselves in positions they couldn’t have dreamed of before Bea started to turn the store around, and the continued press from the Ladies of Liberty Club for more opportunity and less constriction for women. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.