Under a Gilded Moon
In New York in 1895, Kerry boards a train back to her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. When she arrives, she sees the Biltmore Estate, new home of George Vanderbilt, being completed. In her tumbledown childhood home, her father is dying and she is needed to care for him and her twin siblings. She finds most of her neighbors have sold their homes and farms to George Vanderbilt for his colossal estate. Kerry’s father is one of the last holdouts. She hates the changes this brings to her community and vows to ignore the elegant palace. She cannot make ends meet so she must get a job, but with no jobs available, she is eventually forced to go to work at the Biltmore and is thrown into the world of vast wealth.
This book highlights the class disparity of the time, and the bigotry toward immigrants, Jews, and Black people. There is a mystery when a Jewish journalist is murdered at the train station upon arrival, but that plotline is set aside until much later while other subplots take over. There is racial violence towards the Italian, Salvatore; the Chinese store owner, Ling; and Robert, who is Black. Many of the characters are based on real people. Most notable is Madison Grant, who is placed in the book as a guest of George Vanderbilt. One thing he is known for is his white supremacist views. Hitler became a devotee of his when he read Grant’s book The Passing of the Great Race.
Under a Gilded Moon is burdened with multiple characters, numerous plotlines, and extensive descriptions. Even though the writing is very good, the plot moves very slowly, and the book failed to make a connection with me.
