This is a fascinating fictionalized account of the life of Edith Vanderbilt. Widowed after her husband’s death because of a burst appendix , Edith must try to run the vast Biltmore Estate and the town that survives because of it. Not an easy task for anyone, but for a woman in 1914. Things are not as rosy for the Vanderbilts as the world might believe, Edith is struggling under a mountain of debt, trying to steer the family’s fortunes back in the right direction. She wants to leave a fortune and a legacy for her daughter Cornelia, another high spirited woman ahead of her time. Their lives intermingle with those of Julia Baxter, a modern day bride with a supposedly charmed bridal veil gifted to her great grandmother years before by an unknown woman on a train. I really enjoyed this story, especially the historical part; it was fascinating to get a glimpse inside the life of American royalty