Although Claire McMillan's first novel is an homage to Edith Wharton's House of Mirth, Gilded Age also holds its own as an entertaining and thought-provoking exploration of marriage and societal expectations--and how to capture lasting happiness.
For Wharton's 1890s New York City, McMillan substitutes current-day Cleveland--presenting the city, like its predecessor, as a hotbed of gossip, tradition, wealth and superficial propriety. Her attention to the details of this Midwestern city transports the reader and affirms that provincialism, snobbery and ennui can be found in any place and time. Lily Bart is reinterpreted as Ellie Harr, a sumptuous beauty whose failed marriage brings her back to her native Cleveland to find a wealthy husband--as her childhood friends have done. "Ellie was used to being the most beautiful woman in the room where she went," McMillan writes, "but she carried it lightly. Her thick hair was the color of tobacco, subtly streaked with honey, and hung down her back like a royal mantle."
Gilded Age is told primarily from the perspective of Ellie's oldest friend, who is happily married and pregnant with her first child; she recounts her friend's demise. The secondary characters are well crafted and authentic, even at their presumptuous worst, but the steady, reliable voice of the narrator is the true north of the novel. Although this is McMillan's debut, her ear for dialogue, eye for imagistic detail and astute commentary on the universal complexities of marriage, social status and independence--despite setting or class--is mature and deft. --Kristen Galles from Book Club Classics