Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Gilded Years

The Gilded Years

Tanabe, Karin

Paperback

General FictionHistorical FictionLiterary Fiction

Publisher Price: $20.00

ISBN10: 1501110454
ISBN13: 9781501110450
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: Jun 7 2016
Pages: 400
Weight: 0.70
Height: 1.20 Width: 5.30 Depth: 8.10
Language: English
Passing meets The House of Mirth in this must-read (PopSugar) historical novel based on the true story of Anita Hemmings, the first black student to attend Vassar, who successfully passed as white--until she let herself grow too attached to the wrong person.Since childhood, Anita Hemmings has longed to attend the country's most exclusive school for women, Vassar College. Now, a bright, beautiful senior in the class of 1897, she is hiding a secret that would have banned her from admission: Anita is the only Black student ever to attend Vassar. With her olive complexion and dark hair, this daughter of a janitor and descendant of slaves has successfully passed as white, but now finds herself rooming with Louise Lottie Taylor, the scion of one of New York's most prominent families. Though Anita has kept herself at a distance from her classmates, Lottie's sphere of influence is inescapable, her energy irresistible, and the two become fast friends. Pulled into her elite world, Anita learns what it's like to be treated as a wealthy, educated white woman--the person everyone believes her to be--and even finds herself in a heady romance with a moneyed Harvard student. It's only when Lottie becomes infatuated with Anita's brother, Frederick, whose skin is almost as light as his sister's, that the situation becomes particularly perilous. And as Anita's college graduation looms, those closest to her will be the ones to dangerously threaten her secret. Set against the vibrant backdrop of the Gilded Age, an era when old money traditions collided with modern ideas, this is an elegant and extremely gratifying imagining of one remarkable woman's life (USA TODAY).

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