The American Heiress

Daisy Goodwin's "The American Heiress" offers an instant tonic for those suffering from Downton Abbey withdrawal (and who isn't?). This deliciously evocative first novel, which tells the story of Cora Cash, an American heiress in the 1890s who marries an English duke, lingers in the reader's mind, as Allison Pearson, the New York Times best-selling author of "I Don't Know How She Does It" and "I Think I Love You," notes.

This program includes a bonus chapter of "Victoria," the latest novel from Daisy Goodwin, the creator and writer of the new PBS/Masterpiece drama of the same name. Cora Cash, a beautiful and vivacious young woman, travels abroad with her mother at the turn of the 20th century to seek a titled husband. Hailing from a family whose Newport mansion dwarfs even the Vanderbilts', Cora suddenly finds herself the Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England.

However, all is not as it seems. Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Cora soon learns that money cannot buy everything, and she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage. Witty, moving, and brilliantly entertaining, Cora's story marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who brings a fresh new spirit to the world of Edith Wharton and Henry James.

As Daisy Goodwin notes in The Daily Mail, "For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn't always buy them happiness." "The American Heiress" was named one of Library Journal's Best Historical Fiction Books of 2011, and it is also known by the alternate (British) title "My Last Duchess."

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