My Review: She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

She Walks in Beauty
by Siri Mitchell
Copyright 2010
Bethany House Publishers
400 pages
ISBN: 978-0-7642-0433-3
Historical Fiction

From the publisher:

During New York City's Gilded Age...
The game is played amid banquets and balls.
The prize is a lifetime of wealth and privilege.
The rules will test friendships and
the desires of a young woman's heart.
Clara Carter is the social season's brightest star...
but at what cost?

For a young society woman seeking a favorable marriage, so much depends on her social season debut. Clara Carter has been given one goal: secure the affections of the city's most eligible bachelor. Debuting means plenty of work--there are corsets to be fitted, dances to master, manners to perfect. Her training soon pays off, however, as celebrity's spotlight turns Clara into a society-page darling.

Yet Clara soon wonders if this is the life she really wants. Especially when she learns her best friend has also set her sights on Franklin De Vries. When a man appears who seems to love her simply for who she is and gossip backlash turns ugly, Clara realizes it's not just her marriage at stake--the future of her family depends on how she plays the game.

My Review:
She Walks in Beauty follows one reluctant debutante, Clara Carter, through life in New York City and Gilded Age society. The details in this book are stunning and the torture that high society girls and women had to go through to achieve perfection is unbelievable and yet not all that different from what today's women go through. While not forced into 600 bone corsets to make a 22 inch waist into an 18 inch waist, a lot of women today spend thousands on painful cosmetic surgeries and some even die in the pursuit of perfection.

This book has it all, beautiful gowns, crowded ballrooms, and cutthroat mothers and aunts who will do anything to get the attention of "the heir" for their daughters and nieces. If you are interested in romance and the goings on of the upper echelons of Victorian society this book is a terrific read that will keep you turning pages till the wee hours of the morning. I also recommend this to any reader whether or not they read Christian fiction as it is not at all preachy, to be completely honest God is only mentioned a few times in passing.

She Walks in Beauty is being added to my keeper shelf. It is one of the best books I've read this year, Christian fiction or otherwise. I loved it!

"Available now from your favorite bookseller!"

To learn more about Siri visit:
Her WEBSITE

*I received my free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*