Arabella Huntington was a woman who knew what she wanted, did what she had to to get it, and gave zero f**** about how other people saw her. Today she would have been a sugar baby - a kept woman, a mistress, a courtesane in the parlance of her era. She could have handily ran a company and been a billionaire. Instead she was a beautiful young woman hiding her spectacles, playing a piano at a faro parlor when railroad tycoon Collis Huntington took notice of her. She agreed to be his mistress in exchange for money and homes for herself and her proverty stricken family. (The character of Sylvia Chamberlain in the television series The Gilded Age is based on Arabella Huntington.)
An American Beauty tells Arabella Huntington's story as a woman who rebuffed - even found ridiculous - society's rules. Arabella never cared to be received by polite society - the original sin of polite society. The novel alternates from the perspectives of the women involved : Arabella, her sisters and mother and Clara, Collis Huntington's daughter. An American Beauty rubs the gilt from The Gilded Age to show poverty, fear, resentment, anger, and the strong will needed to thrive in a time of harsh judgment and social exile. The novel shows Belle in every stage of her life - a young woman desperate to save her family from wretched poverty, a shadow lover to a powerful man, and finally a woman who found peace and happiness.