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Book Summary and Reviews of The Gods of Newport by John Jakes

The Gods of Newport by John Jakes

The Gods of Newport

by John Jakes

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  • Published:
  • Nov 2006, 400 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In the late nineteenth century, Newport, Rhode Island, was a cauldron of undeclared class warfare where reputations were made and lost in a whirlwind of parties and fancied slights. Where giant marble mansions called “cottages” arose and where—amid the glamour of yacht races, tennis matches, and costume balls—depression, even madness, sometimes followed social failure.

In 1893, Sam Driver, railroad mogul and one of the few surviving robber barons of the lawless years after the Civil War, knocks on the door of fabled Newport together with his daughter, Jenny, determined not to be turned away a second time.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Jakes is a fluent storyteller, and his meticulous reconstruction of fin-de-siecle excess will have fans savoring the lavish details of jewelry, fashion, food and follies." - PW.
"Another well-hewn American history lesson for Jakes's devoted fans." - Kirkus.
"He has fashioned yet another breezy, easy-to-read piece of historical fiction, sure to please his many fans." - Booklist.

This information about The Gods of Newport was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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