This week for our backlist book picks we picked two books about the Gilded age and two of the wealthiest families during that time period.
The first book is a historical fiction book about Andrew Carnegie and the second is a nonfiction book about the largest privately owned home in America.
If you like historical fiction I think you will enjoy the first one. If you love learning new and interesting facts about places in the U.S, I think you will love the second one.
Carnegie’s Maid
If you like historical fiction I think you will enjoy Carnegie’s Maid. This book was published in January of 2018, so it is a newer backlist book. It got a lot of attention on social media when it was released, but not very many people are talking about it now.
The writing in this book is well done and creative. Once I started the book I had trouble putting it down. A lot of modern fiction contains PG-13 to R rated content. I don’t like those kinds of books, so I really enjoyed the fact that this was a clean historical romance book.
I do think this book took some liberties with history. There were quite a few times that I thought the book was not accurate or very likely to happen. However, I still really enjoyed the book. If you love historical fiction I think you will enjoy this one.
The Last Castle
Have you visited the Biltmore Estate or are you like me and hope to visit there someday?
The Last Castle takes you through the process of what it took to build Biltmore and gives you a look into the family that has owned it for years.
This book is a well written fascinating non-ficiton read. I knew very little about Biltmore and the Vanderbilt family, so I loved that aspect of the book. But I also loved that this book contained so much history in general. From basic facts about presidents, Europe, the depression, to lesser known facts about forestry and architecture in American.
If you love books about American history, The Gilded Age, or learning about architecture and estates, I think you will enjoy The Last Castle.
Do you have a favorite book about the Gilded Age? We would love to hear what Gilded Age book you love!