The Last Castle by Kiernan

 
The Last Castle, The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home by Denise Kiernan. Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, 2017. Nonfiction, history.

George Vanderbilt, one of THE Vanderbilts, was a scholar. His health was not good. He and his mother decided to seek out a milder climate than the winters of New York and Newport and Bar Harbor. When George Vanderbilt saw Pisgah Forest near Asheville, North Carolina, it was really love at first sight. Over the years, George built the largest American private home in the country. He traveled extensively and filled it with treasures. He found love with and married Edith Dresser who also loved the area and worked hard to become not just a privileged benefactor, but part of the community. After George's death, it was up to Edith to ensure that the house and grounds would endure for their daughter Cornelia's inheritance and for later generations.

Kiernan has written a masterful, interesting, and detailed history of the Biltmore Estate and its people. The same architect. Richard Morris Hunt, and landscape designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, who worked on other more famous American landmarks helped with Biltmore. Famous artists and celebrities of the times are more than name dropped. If this book doesn't have readers getting out their maps of North Carolina and googling Biltmore for future trips, I'd be surprised.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. Scout Press, Simon & Schuster, 2019.    Rowan Caine has made some poor decisions and needs to find a place to be less visable than she has been. She sees an ad for a nanny at a huge Scottish estate and jumps at the job even if it means not being quite honest to get it. The children appear lovely, the home is a technological wonder. Both parents work long hours and travel extensively. Told mainly in a series of letters to a lawyer, it soon appears that little has gone right for Rowan and a child is dead. No one, Rowan, Jack the handsome handyman, or the children seem to be telling the whole truth. Nothing is as it seems and readers will be guessing at this who done it up until the very end. 

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes. Imogen Edwards-Jones, Editorial consultant. Lindy Woodhead, Historical Consultant. Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group, 2016. Adult Historical fiction.       

                                         Best known for his television series Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes turns his hand to writing about English society in 1815, the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, and then jumps to 1841. The Trenchard family, suppliers to the governnment, has one beautiful daughter, Sophia. She makes some unwise decisions, it appears, and dies young. In the 1840's, the Trenchards are aging and wishing that they had an heir. A looming challenge to Viscount Bellasis' fortune appears in an unlikely form. A beautiful young woman is about to be married to someone she does not love. In true Fellowes' style, how are all these people connected? Will the difference in the classes prevent good, honest people from receiving their proper recognition? Will true love win out?   Movie goers may have seen a recent preview of the new serialized app that features these characters. For more information see Julian FellowesBelgravia.com  

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord

  A Night to Remember by Walter Lord. St. Martin's Griffin, 2005. Originally published in 1955 by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston and reprinted in 1983. Nonfiction. 

This is the 50th anniversary edition of the classic HMS Titanic book. Walter Lord interviewed as many  survivors as he could, studied maps, pored over diagrams, and wove the facts into this highly readable book.  The new introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick, a sea worthy author himself, puts the book into a historical perspective and adds much to understanding of the ship's significance for modern readers.  Before the wreck was discovered by Robert Ballard in 1985, and before the fictionalized movie in 1997, there was the great ship. Thought to be unsinkable, she was the pride of Belfast ship builders. Passengers on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City in April, 1912  included the most wealthy and well known celebrities of the times as well as other second and third class passengers. Of course, we know now, that an iceberg was waiting and many, many lives were lost. The Carpathia ended up rescuing some passengers. Halifax seamen ended up recovering bodies. With all of the survivors now dead, never again will there be an opportunity to talk with survivors. Walter Lord's crisp, factual, carefully crafted account of the sailing and its aftermath has lost none of its original power. Definitely, this nonfiction book is better than any movie could ever be. Just read it.

Watching You: A Novel by Lisa Jewell

Watching You: A Novel by Lisa Jewell. Atria Books, 2019. Adult Fiction.
In the lovely little Melville Heights neighborhood of Bristol, England, Joey(Joesephine)Mullen is married to Alfie Butter who is working as a house painter. They are reduced living with Jack, her doctor brother, and his pregnant wife, Rebecca. Life is not as great as she hoped it might be, with Joey working at the Whackadoo child care center and pining for romance and self worth. Handsome headmaster Tom Fitzwilliam and his wife, Nicola, live so near that they can see into each other's windows sometimes. The Fitzwilliams have a teenage son who uses his own window to spy on the neighborhood. Jenna Tripp is a student and is valiantly trying to keep everyone from knowing how her own mother is slipping into mental illness. Then, someone is killed. The narrative chapters are alternated with transcripts from the police interviews.  The past of these characters become clearer and their current interweavings are explored until the rather sad, but resolved, ending.  Definitely a thriller and just ripe for a movie version, the novel may make readers wonder just who could be watching them!

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison. Mira, 2019. Adult fiction.

When British teen Ash Carlisle arrives as a student at the exclusive girls' prep school, the Goode School, in Marchburg, Virginia, she is an unknown quantity. Her brother and parents have died. Headmistress Dr. Ford Westhaven, has inherited her position from her own mother whose poor decisions led to dismissal and she is determined not to go down that same path. Ash has secrets though as does Westhaven. Typical girl drama soon becomes deadly. Dare we say that the Ivy has become poisonous?

Ellison, the author of many other thrillers, writes smoothly. She obviously has had experience with the area and with prep school life and teenage girls. The red herrings are there, but she manages to slip in some zingers that will keep readers guessing until the absolute end.

House of Gold: A Novel by Natasha Solomons

House of Gold: A Novel by Natasha Solomons. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2018. Adult fiction.

The wealthy Goldbaum family has mansions, business interests, and family members all around the world. When Greta moves to England to marry Albert, a distant cousin, she leaves the Vienna of 1911 and a life of making any of her own choices. The Goldbaum men are bankers; their wives are expected to have children, run households, and support their husbands. Only when Greta makes an ally in her mother-in-law and finds that she has a passion for gardening, does her life finally begin to feel like her own. Of course, readers know that WWI is coming. Being wealthy and being Jewish will not protect their              families or their wealth.  This is another sweeping, multigenerational novel                                           from the talented author.