The Philadelphia Heiress
Helen Montgomery lives with her wealthy parents on the Main Line just outside of Philadelphia in the late 1920s. As the novel opens, she reluctantly seeks a husband. Her father, suffering from a scandal, has lost business clients, so Helen must not only marry but marry well to counter this reversal. After a failed try or two, she snags a husband who comes close to fitting the bill. As Helen adapts to life as a newlywed, she also follows her true love—dairy products. She wants to start a line of cheese, produced from the milk of cows on her family’s estate. Helen’s husband, while recognizing her entrepreneurial spirit, chooses to follow his own interests, which takes the couple to England where they connect to the Bloomsbury crowd, including Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and Leonard Woolf. After a tempestuous stay in England, the couple returns separately to Pennsylvania, where they follow their passions.
Abriel focuses on the story of a marriage, with its ups and downs. She excels at showing the evolution of characters. As a young woman, Helen is judgmental and considers that a strength, not a weakness. Readers see her tolerance for others grow, inch by inch. In parallel fashion, her husband realizes what is most important to him and strives to accomplish his goals. Abriel offers the readers long and lush descriptions of settings, clothing, and food—descriptions that only occasionally advance the plot. Despite that minor issue, the novel should appeal to those interested in Philadelphia society, the Bloomsbury circle, and above all a profile of an unconventional marriage.
