59 pages • 1 hour read
Shana AbeAn American Beauty: A Novel of the Gilded Age Inspired by the True Story of Arabella Huntington Who Became the Richest Woman in the Country
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: New York Society During the Gilded Age
The Gilded Age is a period in American history characterized by a rapidly growing economy, extreme social inequality, and political corruption. The term comes from the title of a novel penned by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner and published in 1873. The rapid economic growth during this period came from a boom in industrial activity, especially in the areas of steel, petroleum, and transportation. These industries were run as monopolies or oligopolies, lining the pockets of a select few. Collis Huntington, Belle’s lover and eventual husband, made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. Other prominent names that rose up during this time are also featured in the book, including the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers.
The men who made their money during the industrial boom of the Gilded Age were termed “robber barons,” and did not immediately gain acceptance into high society. New York high society, during the beginning of the Gilded Age in particular, continued to be run by families who came from ancestral money and elite social pedigree. The most prominent of social arbiters in this time included Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, known simply as Mrs. Astor, and her associate, Ward McAllister (Taylor, Elise and Stephanie Sporn. “The Real-Life Socialites and Historical Figures Who Inspired the Characters of the Gilded Age.” Vogue, 2023). Mrs. Astor and McAllister together attempted to control access to New York society by prescribing norms and etiquette that favored those who came from “old money.” McAllister even developed “The 400”—a list of people who were considered acceptable in New York high society, suggested to be defined by the number of people who could fit into Mrs. Astor’s ballroom (Taylor). Belle encounters Mrs. Astor during her time in New York as Mrs. Worham but has no opportunity to ever be a part of the clubs or balls the socialite runs. She does eventually have a brief interaction with Mrs. Astor at ball organized by McAllister.
This invitation is likely the result of Mrs. Astor’s waning power during the late 19th century, especially as America’s industrial wealth began to wield more power than ever in society. For instance, she eventually does accept the Vanderbilts and other such industrialist families into the upper echelons of society because they grow significantly wealthier than her and the other, older New York families (Taylor).
Historical Context: Arabella Huntington
There are no concrete records that detail the early life of Arabella Huntington, born Arabella Duval Yarrington. The date and location of her birth are unclear, and some information about her family suggests that she had connections in Texas and that she had four siblings. Arabella’s first definite appearance in the annals of American history comes with her arrival in New York during the 1860s (“Provenance.” National Gallery of Art). While in the book Belle is brought to New York by Collis, historical records only mention her arrival as the wife of a man named John A. Worsham, who appears to have passed away shortly after, leaving her with a young son.
There is nothing that links Arabella to Collis Huntington at the time of her arrival in New York; however, she was a tenant in one of his houses during the early 1870s, and she married him a few months after his first wife passed away of cancer in 1883 (“Provenance“). The speed of their courtship and eventual marriage has led to speculation that Arabella and Collis had a much longer association than presented to the world, and Shana Abé dramatizes this in the book by detailing their relationship as having begun in Virginia.
Arabella went on to become a renowned art collector, beginning with a mansion that she and Collis built and furnished at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Seventh Street, some years into their marriage (“Provenance“). This is the mansion Belle has built to replace Collis’s previous house, which still holds memories of Elizabeth. While history marks this as the beginning of Arabella’s career as a collector, Abé imagines Belle, as Collis’s mistress, having purchased multiple pieces of art to decorate her various houses with. Art, in fact, serves as an important recurring motif in the book, speaking to the kind of social mobility Belle discovers possible through wealth.
Arabella Huntington continued adding to her already significant collection upon Collis’s death in 1900, her inheritance from him leaving her one of the wealthiest women in America at the time. Collis’s nephew, Henry Huntington, who was also involved in the railway magnate’s business, aided Arabella in this endeavor following his uncle’s death (“Provenance“). Historically, there is no evidence of a special relationship between Arabella and Henry (“Edward” in the book) during her marriage to Collis, although Arabella was at the very least on friendly terms with Henry, as he and his uncle were close. However, as the book suggests, they did go on to marry in 1913, seven years after Henry’s divorce from his first wife was finalized (“Provenance“).
Henry and Arabella divided their time between California and New York, as the article in the Epilogue suggests. The grand mansion that Edward bought and Belle redecorated in the book, as well as all the art that they accumulated together, eventually went on to become the Huntington Library and Art Gallery located in San Marino, California, after Arabella’s death in 1924 and Henry’s three years later (“Provenance“).
