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<p>If you&#8217;re anything like me, you&#8217;re bummed that PBS&#8217;s beloved &#8220;Downton Abbey&#8221; is ending this year. With only a few more episodes to go of the life and times of the Crawley family and their servants, you might be looking for a new fix for those withdrawal symptoms that will hit after the finale airs.</p><p>For those of you unfamiliar with &#8220;Downton Abbey,&#8221; it&#8217;s the story of a wealthy family during the end of the Edwardian period in England and how they weather the changing times that came after WWI. The patriarch, Lord Grantham, is a classic British lord from the late 1800s. Lacking money as a young man, but blessed with a title, he married Cora, a wealthy American heiress who brought in the finances he needed and earned a title in the meantime.</p><p>Daisy Goodwin&#8217;s &#8220;The American Heiress&#8221; could very well be the story of Cora. The main character&#8217;s name is Cora Cash. She&#8217;s a young woman of the 1890s, the Gilded Age of America. She lives in Manhattan and has a home in Newport, Rhode Island, where all of America&#8217;s wealthy summered at the time.</p><p>Cora&#8217;s mother is desperate to marry her off to a European title, while Cora herself pines for Teddy, a fellow wealthy heir from New York. However, after a summer party ends in disaster, she and her mother head to England in search of a title.</p><p>Early in the novel, Cora is thrown from her horse during a hunt and rescued by a duke named Ivo. The duke, like many British nobles of the period, has a title and ancient house but very little money. In very little time, Ivo proposes to Cora and they are quickly married.</p><p>Like many such marriages, Cora and Ivo do not know each other well. While they seem to have a picture perfect life (the gorgeous mansion in London and ancient estate in the country), Cora finds that British nobility look down on Americans. Even wealthy heiresses are thought to be vulgar. The social mistakes that Cora makes puts a strain on her marriage.</p><p>She also has to contend with Charlotte, an old family friend, who seems to have history with Ivo and who won&#8217;t leave the newlyweds alone. Cora&#8217;s mother-in-law does not make her life particularly easy either.</p><p>Cora is likeable, but spoiled and impulsive. She might not always understand her duke, but she does genuinely love him. The novel is told through multiple perspectives, including Cora&#8217;s overbearing mother, her first love, Teddy, and her half-black maid, Bertha, who shares the story of the servants&#8217; world. Other characters pop in and out, making the novel well-rounded.</p><p>Cora could come off as a spoiled brat, but in Goodwin&#8217;s hands, she rises above her privileged life to become a very three-dimensional, interesting woman, determined to succeed in her new life and marriage.</p><p>&#8220;The American Heiress&#8221; certainly feels at home in the &#8220;Downton Abbey&#8221; world. It also would appeal to fans of Edith Wharton and fans of the American Gilded Age. Cora is inspired by a real American heiress, Consuelo Vanderbilt, who married Charles Spencer-Churchill, a cousin of Winston Churchill&#8217;s (and ancestor of Princess Diana). Her new mother-in-law was modeled after Jennie Jerome, another American heiress, who was Winston Churchill&#8217;s mother.</p><p>So if you are mourning the inevitable end of &#8220;Downton Abbey,&#8221; seek solace in the life of Cora Cash and her marriage to the Duke of Wareham in this very entertaining novel.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dorothy Sasso</p><p>On the Books</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>&#8220;The American Heiress&#8221;</p><p>Author: Daisy Goodwin</p><p>Page Number: 468</p><p>Publisher: St. Martin&#8217;s Griffin</p><p>Rating:&#9830;&#9830;&#9830;&#9830; &#9830;</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Dorothy Sasso is a former Soap Opera Digest writer and a private school teacher. She is busy reading books and raising her daughter.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

On the Books: When “Downton Abbey” ends, pick up “The American Heiress” to fill the void