BookBrowse Reviews A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler

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Marrying William K. Vanderbilt may have solved Alva Smith's financial problems, but it was her own tenacity that gained her and this wealthy family recognition in society. But at what cost?

The full title of A Well-Behaved Woman includes the subtitle A Novel of the Vanderbilts which is mostly accurate, but in truth this story is more specifically about Alva Erskine Smith, who married into the Vanderbilt family to save herself and her sisters from their family's failing fortunes. The marriage was a political one; despite Alva's family's relative penury, they had enough social cachet to be considered worthy of the higher echelons of society, whereas the Vanderbilts, despite their enormous wealth, were considered nouveau riche and unworthy of high society. Alva was the person who changed all of that (see Beyond the Book).

Therese Anne Fowler begins her novel with Alva trying to catch William K. Vanderbilt's eye, and get him to propose to her. Once that happens, the story moves steadily forward, giving us a portrait of a very determined woman, with whom the author appears to have a certain love-hate relationship. On the one hand, Fowler portrays Alva's enormous inner strength and intelligence, as well as grace and generosity that make her a force to be reckoned with and admired. However, we also see a less decorous side of her personality, one that is both spoiled and self-centered. What this does – and what I found admirable about the choice – is that it allows readers to come to their own conclusions about Alva. Furthermore, this also lets Alva act in unexpected ways.

What comes through most of all is Alva's deep longing for love and physical – if not animal – passion, which she does her best to suppress out of a belief that such urges are unladylike, if not unseemly. This, I believe, is why Alva has the titular moniker of being "well-behaved," which is also somewhat ironic, particularly in light of how she defied society's norms by divorcing her unfaithful husband and embracing feminism, which led to her later involvement with the women's suffrage movement. Finally, Alva has both cynicism and wit, which leads to some amusing dialogue. Fowler succeeds in giving us a fully three-dimensional character whose admirable qualities are undiminished by her many flaws and, in fact, make her all the more realistic and human. If that's the type of novel you're looking for, you could find no better example than this book.

I can't say that A Well-Behaved Woman is absolutely perfect, but it does come very close. Fowler's writing style is very open, honest and absorbing, so despite its slightly extended length, I became so immediately and fully involved in the story that I practically whizzed through the pages. However, I believe there were some areas (although they were few and far between) that could have been cut out, or cut down, that might have made the narrative more cohesive and consistent. In addition, I had hoped that more of Ava's later years of life would have been included, but the ending, including the afterword and author's note, make up for that - they are just as well written and very important to read, so please don't skip them. These niggles, however, aren't enough for me to lower my rating from a full five stars, and I honestly enjoyed this book and can warmly recommend it to lovers of historical fiction about women.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in October 2018, and has been updated for the October 2019 edition. Click here to go to this issue.