A Lady of Good Family

by Jeanne Mackin

From the author of The Beautiful American comes a richly imagined, beautifully written novel about historical figure Beatrix Farrand, one of the first female landscape architects.
 
Raised among wealth and privilege during America’s fabled Gilded Age, a niece of famous novelist Edith Wharton and a friend to literary great Henry James, Beatrix Farrand is expected to marry, and marry well. But as a young woman traveling through Europe with her mother and aunt, she already knows that gardens are her true passion.
 
How this highborn woman with unconventional views escapes the dictates of society to become the most celebrated female landscape designer in the country is the story of her unique determination to create beauty and serenity while remaining true to herself.
 
Beatrix’s journey begins at the age of twenty-three in the Borghese Gardens of Rome, where she meets beguiling Amerigo Massimo, an Italian gentleman of sensitivity and charm—a man unlike any she has known before....

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2015

About the author

Jeanne Mackin is the author of The Beautiful American and A Lady of Good Family. In addition to several other novels as well as short fiction and creative nonfiction, she is the author of the Cornell Book of Herbs and Edible Flowers and co-editor of The Norton Book of Love. She lives with her husband in upstate New York.

Reviews

[TL *Humaning the Best She Can* · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this via Goodreads FirstReads in exchange for an honest review.
*****

A lovely book on a woman I had never heard of before this... Beatrix is a fascinating woman and I applaud her for all that she achieved during her life.

The writing smoothly moves you along in the story, but I had trouble getting into the way the narrative was written at first. It's narrated by Daisy Winters, as she's telling Beatrix's story to her friends at an inn.

Daisy was a good character and I could see myself being friends with her if I lived in that time but every-time it came back from telling her and Beatrix's story to her sitting on the porch and talking to her friends, I got jarred out of the story. It got slightly better as I went on but never fully. It didn't deter me from enjoying the tale, don't get me wrong... I just wasn't fond of it.

Amerigo I was never really sold on. As a person he was alright (I have nothing against him), but just never clicked with him myself.

All in all, I would recommend... despite my quibbles with it it's an enjoyable book and a quick read. Nice book for the summer :)

Happy reading!

[Lyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
poorly written

[Vikki Vaught · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vikki’s Musings

I accepted this book from the publisher via Net-Galley in exchange for an honest review. A Lady of Good Family is a glimpse of what the later days of the Gilded Age must have been like in Europe and America. A time of privilege for member of society and the beginnings of the “Nouveau Riche” told in third person narrative by a fictional character to a group of friends in Massachusetts. It is the story of a remarkable woman, Beatrix Jones Farrand, a renowned landscape artist. It covers a visit to the continent to view the famous gardens in the various countries in 1895 and ends in 1920.

While Beatrix explores Borghese Gardens of Rome, she meets Amarigo Massimo, a man different from any other gentleman of her acquaintance. She is drawn to him, but knows he is not the man for her. However, she is young and wants to fall in love, so she encourages a relationship. Will the mystic of this man prove her downfall, or will reason win out?

Beatrix is a fascinating woman who did not let the dictates of society rule her choices or her life. She chose a path very few women in her time would ever follow. She did not marry as a young woman, just to conform to the times where women were not supposed to work outside the home. While she did marry in her mid-life, she chose a man for the reason of mutual companionship and someone who would not expect her to change the way she lived her life. She is well-known for her incredible work designing Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, the Beatrix Farrand Garden at Bellefield in Hyde Park, New York and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C. to name a few.

While a fictional romantic thread runs through the story, which is very enjoyable and one that could have easily happened during this period of history, it is not the main focus of the book. This is definitely not a romance, even though it does tell of a love story. This story delves into the typical marriages of the times and many of them were not happy ones. It deals with divorce when the dissolution of a marriage created a huge scandal and was always the woman’s fault. It is no wonder Beatrix chose to avoid marriage for so long.

What I struggled with while reading this book was the lack of any explanation of some of the characters in the story. Since it is told through the eyes of Daisy Winters, I also did not become invested in the characters and at times had a hard time following along with the story. While the description of the various gardens is vivid, I did not become enraptured with them either. However, that is because I am not a gardener. I am sure anyone who loves gardening and gardens will enjoy the descriptions greatly.

While I did not find this book to my tastes, it is beautifully written and gave me a marvelous look into an age long past. Anyone who loves history and learning about an era that has not had a lot of attention will enjoy A Lady of Good Family. Happy reading!

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautifully written books I have read in a very long time.

The story is of the early life of Beatrix Jones Farrand who was a real person. She was an extremely talented landscape architect in the early part of the 20th century. Her talent was so well known she not only designed gardens for private homes but also was the landscaper for Princeton University for more than 30 years. She did garden designing at the White House. She was a success in her field at a time when women were not expected to be a success in such an obvious manner.

Beatrix was from a wealthy family. Her future normally would have been to marry well and become a wife and mother. That was not the choice she made and it is evident the world was a better place because of the choice she made.

This is a novel which includes not only Beatrix but her aunt Edith Wharton, the author Henry James and her mother. They were all very real people. Because these lives were well documented, the fact and fiction are woven together seamlessly.

The story itself is of Beatrix and Daisy, a woman who is Beatrix's best friend. During one of her tours of Europe, Beatrix meets an Italian man who seems to be a perfect person to be in her life, but there are many barriers in the way. Daisy is a wealthy woman who is married with children, but her marriage is very unhappy.

In fact, for me there were too many people in this story who were very unhappy.

The writing flows beautifully. The characters are very well defined. The plot is a creative masterpiece.

But, I yearned to see happiness. These people were living lives that were extremely elevated above what was normal for the Gilded Age. Most people in the world before WWI were living lives that were very difficult. Yet, it seems that not a one of these comfortable people could find happiness.

I loved the expressive writing, but I simply could not become enthusiastic about the story of so much unhappiness.

I received this book from the publisher in the hope that I would write a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Kme_17 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this a first read. This was a lovely book. I was not aware of Beatrix Farrand. However, enjoyed reading about her. She accomplish much in her life. I also truly enjoy the author writing style. She makes you care as much about the secondary characters as the main. I also enjoyed how she dealt with the historical time period. All in all a solid read.

[William Mehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Had actually never heard of this lady brfore the book. Verry informative. Won on goodreads.

[Enchanted Prose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The shaping of a world-class American garden artist – Beatrix Jones Farrand (1895 -1920; told from Lenox, Massachusetts in backstories to Old World European and British gardens): Are you thinking, who is Beatrix Jones Farrand? If you’ve ever admired the elegant gardens at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC, or the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Seal Harbor, Maine, or Bellefield on FDR’s Presidential Museum and Library site in Hyde Park, New York, or Yale’s Memorial Quadrangle gardens – some 200 public and private gardens – then you’ve delighted in the aesthetic legacy of Beatrix Jones Farrand. You just weren’t aware that these artistically landscaped gardens were designed by a pioneering woman, considered one of the most influential American landscape architects of the 20th-century. Thanks to the author’s gardening passion (echoed by countless others, see here and here), you’ll find A Lady of Good Family unfolds and blooms in its own delight.

The first pleasing seeds are planted when you learn that two of the lady’s Gilded Age connections were those wonderful chroniclers of the clash between the Old World and the New: Edith Wharton, Beatrix’s aunt (Wharton likened her writing to a “secret garden”) and Henry James, Beatrix’s friend. So too does Jeanne Mackin’s newest historical novel transport us back to the attitudes and customs of the gilded era at home and abroad, bumping Beatrix’s New World aspirations devoted to designing magnificent gardens that fit naturally into landscapes – Beatrix’s real history – up against an imagined Old World romantic love – the novel’s fictional “heart history.”

Your transporter – our narrator – is Daisy Winters, whose delighting, reminiscing prose flows like “daisies danced in the breeze. My namesake flower.” She’s a fictionalized confidante of both Beatrix and her kindly mother, Minnie. We trust Daisy’s storytelling about Beatrix’s heart because all three were close-enough in age to be believable good friends (and we’re privy to Beatrix’s warm, heart-to-heart letters to Daisy). When the novel opens, Beatrix is 23, Daisy 33, Minnie 47.

Daisy’s vehicle for confiding Beatrix’s life is told mostly as porch conversations she’s having with three strangers she’s met at an inn in the Berkshires, where she’s staying for a week. It’s nicely situated near Edith Wharton’s white mansion summer home, The Mount (some gardens were designed by Beatrix.) Sometimes Daisy interrupts her recollections with fond and melancholy glimpses into her own life and heart. While she greatly admires Beatrix, there’s regrets and jealousy too. Without giving anything away, suffice it to say that Daisy’s character adds the perfect intellectual twist to the author’s creative intermingling of famous historical figures and details with famous literary ones.

Beatrix, you’ve gathered, came from a privileged, well-connected East Coast family. But like her understated landscape style, she didn’t flaunt herself (she “wore her wealth more lightly than most”). Rather, she quietly dazzled with her “Titian-colored hair” and “pale grey eyes full of sweetness” and “coloratura” singing voice. An only child adored by her mother, whose sincere charity-mindedness instilled a lifelong commitment to doing good works. (Daisy is also socially-minded, as she’s just returned from Tennessee, the last State to grant voting rights to women.) Beatrix, who found her life’s calling early on in spite of prevailing societal beliefs that a woman’s place belongs in the home, translated her mother’s ideals “to give back to the world” through the “pleasure and beauty” of designing beatific, spirited gardens:

“It isn’t enough to be beautiful … A garden must meet the needs of the soul as well as the senses. You feel at home and somehow enlarged, more yourself, in a good garden. Most of all the garden must suit the land … It was a philosophy of life as well as gardening: pleasure combined with work, beauty with practicality. The garden would both calm and awaken senses and memory.”

Beatrix felt deeply that “there is no more sensual activity than gardening,” so she couldn’t envision herself as the marrying type. Her determination and independent spirit were also fueled by a lack of close-up, positive role-models for marriage: Her father, Frederic, Wharton’s brother, was a floundering gambler; Edith’s marriage to Teddy was unhappy (eventually they divorced); Daisy, our outgoing and intimately chatty narrator, a mother of six who does not take well to a solitary life, is unrealistically optimistic about her also gambling husband; and Henry James, who never married, his sexuality affecting his novels, cautioned Beatrix (and Daisy) about making impulsive romantic decisions. Beatrix also keenly understood “reputation [is] a woman’s most important possession.” This is the mindset of the lovely young lady we’re introduced to when she embarks with her mother on a transformative journey studying and sketching some of the grandest gardens in Italy, France, Germany, and England (at the encouragement of Beatrix’s horticulture professor, Charles Sprague Sargent, founder of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum).

Where else should the novel’s dreamed-up, dreamy romance be sown than a very proper, formal Old World garden? In this case, the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome, which is where Beatrix encounters a mannerly, shy Italian, Amerigo Marrismo, who is as enchanted by Beatrix’s “newness” as she is with his look “as honest as the sun.” But his is an Old World “timelessness” and Beatrix has set her sights on the New, thus setting up Beatrix’s inner turmoil. The novel’s tension persists as the two keep meeting in other European cities amid Beatrix’s horticultural travels, where Amerigo is chasing after a “little family business.”

Offering a playful contrast to the refinement of the old-moneyed, upper-class society of the Jones and the Whartons is another fabricated character, Mrs. Haskett. She’s the obnoxious one, representing the “nouveau riche,” an American mother desperate to find suitable husbands for her three daughters. She’s also key to Amerigo’s popping up everywhere Beatrix is, making it impossible to forget him.

Accompanying the charm and allure of the couple’s old-fashioned infatuation is the author’s depiction of gardening as metaphors for life. Chapters are introduced by three prologues, each summoning messages about the arc of the novel and, more poignantly, about life. It’s these tidbits of wisdom attached to flowers, plants, and gardening that shine throughout. A few examples:

* Creeping speedwell evokes a life that is “full of uncertainty and unexpected happenings.”
* An old apothecary rose signifies life is “not to be taken for granted.”
* Daisy’s storytelling is not “embellished,” the same way “gardeners know better than to force excessive color or outrageous shapes into a flower bed.”
* For trustworthiness and the “simple goodness of life” the gardener is advised to nurture the while alba rose, known for its “constancy.”
* “Life was, after all, an experiment. What is the planting of a single desiccated seed if not an experiment in hope?”
* “Life and landscapes require flexibility and a touch of serendipity.”
* “A single plant does not constitute a garden, any more than a single decision constitutes a lifetime.”
* “Walk a garden path and you walk a kind of eternity.”

Just as Beatrix left us lasting, pleasurable gardens, the novel leaves us lasting pleasures. You can’t wait to read or re-read Edith Wharton and Henry James, touch the earth, and contemplate what type of garden exemplifies the landscapes of your life.

Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

As told by her (fictional) good friend Daisy Winters, this is a sweet story of Beatrix Jones Farrand, one of the world’s first female landscape architects. It touched a lot on the lives and social structures of New York’s elite class of the early 1900’s, and the pressures of having to marry well and keeping up appearances. It was a time when a society wife was still considered her husband’s property, and was treated no better than a decoration. After witnessing the humiliation and heartbreak of both her mother’s and her aunt’s failed marriages, Beatrix was determined to make something of herself, shunning marriage, and ignoring the expectations that society had at that time for a young socialite.

“…I thought of the world we had created, the world of Lily Bart and Henry James’ poor unnamed governess, where women believed they must marry, and if they did not, they were mere weeds in other people’s gardens, things to be plucked and discarded.”

It thought it was interesting how Beatrix’s story was told through her friend Daisy. Daisy’s own bittersweet story was intertwined in the tale as well, as she related it in a series of flashbacks to an intimate group of fellow hotel guests. There were a lot of historical figures thrown in the story - Edith Wharton and Henry James, amongst others. I love historical fiction and love when a story gets me researching. I spent much time looking up old photos and reading about the lives of Beatrix Jones Farrand and Edith Wharton, Henry James, and the locations mentioned such as the Mount in Lenox.

I found myself needing to find quiet moments to read this. I loved the author's soft quiet voice and slow, pretty storytelling. This is a must for gardeners and lovers of Edith Wharton and Henry James’ work.

My favorite part was when Beatrix was sitting on a bench in the public gardens in Rome and was driven to distraction trying not to lean over to pull a weed growing in the flower bed right next to her. Been there.

[Suey Nordberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The quote on the cover of this book says: "Captivating .. I devoured it in one sitting." Ok, well, I took two and half months. What does that tell you? For me, this was an ultra slow read, and honesty, not a bad choice for a "help me fall asleep at night" book. It is the story of Beatrix Jones Farrand, a historical fiction account of one of the first female landscape architects. The novel spans the Gilded Era through to the 1940s and follows Beatrix's coming of age through an extended trip to Europe, a first romance in Italy, her career in Maine and later beyond to prominent places in New England, and finally, her eventual marriage to Max Farrand.

The book is hard to follow, so maybe reading it in one sitting is the better plan. The timeline narrative shifts between flashback and current day, which shouldn't be that hard to follow, but in this book, it really is. There is a great section of Q&A at the back of the book which is interesting in its own right. Beatrix was related to Edith Wharton, whose close friend was Henry James, so there are literary allusions throughout that some may enjoy. While definitely a blah read for me, I won't give up on this author and will perhaps try her more celebrated "The Beautiful American."

Now on to 2022, where I hope I will once again become an avid reader.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had liked this more, though I suspect someone just reading this as a random historical fiction piece will be far more generous than I can be. You see, I already knew who Beatrix Farrand was, as she designed my favorite garden: Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC--a garden not mentioned until the last three pages of the novel. And the novel itself is not the story of Beatrix, but rather the story of her friend Daisy, telling the story of her and Beatrix. There is, as the afterword mentions, scant information about Beatrix, but there is some. She designed the gardens of the Morgan Library, and was friends with Belle de Costa Greene, JP Morgan's personal librarian. She wove herself, and her vines, throughout much of society. I imagine that Beatrix had a fascinating life, but this novel doesn't delve into it much. Rather, it imagines from full cloth a possible romance gone awry while she is in Europe. Yes, there are mentions of both Edith Wharton and Henry James (who keeps showing up in my historical fiction for some reason), but I feel like Beatrix would have been better served by a novel that fictionalized her life in a different, more honest way.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok - Beatrix Farrand was certainly a fascinating character, and including names like Henry James, Edith Wharton, Roosevelt, etc. certainly "gilded" the cast. However, the way the story was set up, a "ghost story" being told many years after the fact, in the context of the women's suffragette movement, and as a story being relayed while sitting on a porch, just didn't work for me. The transitions between Beatrix's story and that of Mrs. Winters is choppy, many of the metaphors feel forced, and it is one of those books where I just don't really like any of the characters very much. Liking the characters is by no means a prerequisite of liking a book, but this one didn't have superb writing, plot line, or style to make up for it. It makes a mediocre beach read, but doesn't deserve a place on any sort of literary bookshelf.

[Stephanie Carne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was a good story but there was a bit too much going on. I almost put it down after the first two chapters - the start is very confusing as there is no clear path as to what is going on and why you are meeting these people. I think it just needed more editing at the beginning. Once you get past Chapter 3 or 4 it settles down and you can follow it, but its a shame as I'm sure a lot of people would give up.

[Yaël · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about the first woman landscape architect, or landscape gardener as Beatrix Farrand preferred. It was not exciting, but then, gardeners in general aren’t very enthralling unless in the company of other lovers of the soil, trees, and flowers. But the novel was very informative and made for an interesting read.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/2 star is being generous: I was completely disenchanted, confused, & bored by this book.

Not only that I could not tell one character from another they all seemed so flat, even Edith Wharton, so I never understood what was going on or why....

Odd thing is I really enjoyed the Schiaparelli book I read by her.... At least it had a nice cover.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good period romance but misleading in the beginning with the narrator retelling a "ghost story" that doesn't really materialise until the end.

[Leanne Zimmerman ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read appropriately while in Italy.

[Nancy Noble · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been working on some Beatrix Farrand related collections at my work, so wanted to learn more about her - I thought reading a novel would be more accessible. I did enjoy this book - not exactly a page turner, but well written and interesting. I don't know if it would have been as good if it weren't based on real people, as it could feel a little disjointed. But it was fun to read between the lines of what may have happened to Beatrix on her travels through Europe, visiting gardens, and also reflect on the influence that these gardens may have had on her garden design. Overall, I'm very glad I read this book, to learn more about Beatrix Farrand and her family.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeanne manages to make history real. Love her work.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour from the publisher via NetGalley and rated it 4 out of 5 Stars.

A mixture of literary fiction and historical romance, A Lady of Good Family by Jeanne Mackin, tells the story of real life landscape architect Beatrix Jones Farrand. Written in third person narrative, Ms. Mackin’s tale paints a picture of both America and Europe as both continents experience the last days of the Gilded Age, the ramping up of the Women’s Rights movement and the never ending battle between “old money” and the “Nouveau Riche”. Clearly a lover of gardening herself, Ms. Mackin’s descriptions of the gardens and landscaping Beatrix Jones Farrand would have visited, studied and eventually designed herself, remind me of the simple beauty and peace one can find when working with plants.

I believe Ms. Mackin does a good job introducing us, via reflection by a secondary character, to the young woman Beatrix Jones could have been during the time the story takes place; a young woman from a rich upper class society expected to marry but unwilling to do so. A “handsome”, well-educated and liberated woman, Beatrix is a study in contrasts. While she comes from old money, and a coveted social standing, she’s very aware of the how the world is changing and refuses to be tied down to a traditional role like many of the women she knows. Ms. Mackin’s easy to follow writing style made it very easy to connect with Breatrix and to root for her to be able to forge her own path.

Ms. Mackin’s secondary characters are very well developed and I really enjoyed getting to know Beatrix’s mother Mary (aka Minnie), who devoted her life to “giving back to the world” to make up for her failing marriage, her aunt Edith Wharton, a writer I have to admit I’ve never read, and the fictional narrator and confidant of all three women, “Daisy Winters”, the only woman who had a loving and truly functional marriage, though it too had issues. I also thought Ms. Mackin did a good job developing Amerigo Marrismo, the young Italian gentleman Beatrix meets and becomes attracted to while visiting the Villa Borghese Gardens while in Rome. The attraction Beatrix and Amerigo begin to experience, which develops over chance encounters, is unfortunately soon offset by the conflict in the paths they want their lives to take and the interference of another wealthy American woman.

Will Beatrix choose to put her plans for landscape design and professional gardening aside for a future with Amerigo or will the different paths their lives are taking tear them apart before too much emotional damage can be done? And if Beatrix walks away, who will she become? You’ll have to read A Lady of Good Standing to find out. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Ms. Mackin’s work in the future.

[Viviane Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Gilded Age of the 1920s in New England, a woman was fated to marry, raise children, socialize and talk of mundane matters and travel to Europe to tour, rest and socialize some more. This then is the story of the passionate and famous gardener and landscape designer, Beatrix Farrand, who conforms at a minimum level but truly follows the dictates of her heart and soul.

The story is narrated by Daisy Winters, a close friend of Beatrix, and the story opens with Beatrix’s relationships with her Aunt, Edith Wharton, the author Henry James and Minnie, Beatrix’s mother who is currently in the process of divorcing her husband, also a huge break from acceptable tradition of staying married no matter what troubles prevail. Indeed most of the couples in this novel are either always irritated or unhappy about their spouses. What really comes across in the narrative is the lazy boredom of all these rich couples.

While touring in the Borghese Gardens in Italy, Beatrix meets Italian Amerigo Massimo and her word dramatically changes. It is truly “love at first sight.” While his views about women are more conservative than her perspective, it doesn’t stop the magic and they soon become the talk of society. However, nothing stops her from pursuing her study of gardens and art throughout Europe. It is just as well as the reader receives a shock later on in the story regarding priorities in love.

As an aside, it’s fascinating how Wharton and James are portrayed herein. Edith appears less stiff than how she writes and James seems to be the arbiter of decisions that accords with his writings; it’s all about what society accepts or rejects. Beatrix and Minnie are refreshing rebels herein, indeed!

This reviewer absolutely loved the vivid, energizing descriptions of gardens Beatrix visits and the way she slowly articulates how a garden is meant to refresh, rest and inspire viewers. At the same time, the dialogue is plodding among the rich but miserable other characters. A bit of social satire herein?

A Lady of Good Family… is a fascinating, rich story of love, gardens, society and the woman who would break tradition enough to become one of America’s foremost landscape gardeners, presenting her visions throughout America and even at the White House. Recommended reading for sure!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Beatrix Jones, raised amongst wealth, privilege, and social constraints at the turn of the century. She counts Edith Wharton and Henry James as family and friends, however the Gilded Age was also a time when class and money were jockeying for precedence among society's elite and Beatrix falls in love with a man who may jeopardize both for her.

Overall, it was a good book. I found it hard to get into, because of the construct of the narrative within a narrative. Although Daisy Winters has an interesting story to tell, I thought that the portions where the book stopped telling Beatrix's story to go back to Daisy telling the story interrupted the rhythm, especially in the first half of the book. By the end I had either gotten used to it, or maybe I had figured out what was going to happen to Beatrix, so I didn't care so much about the change in narration. I did feel that the second half of the book made up for some of the weakness of the first half, and definitely improved my rating of the book.

I think, if I cared about gardens, I might have enjoyed the book more. I felt that the gardening references were heavy-handed. Background information for the story is soil that "must be thoroughly prepared before the planting." There are way too many more examples of this in the book. I also think I might have enjoyed the story more if I had read "Daisy Miller" by James, which is referenced heavily, as is "The Turn of the Screw" and "The House of Mirth", both of which I have read.

Full Disclosure: I won this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

[Mave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this romance. It 's an historical novel about a woman really existed: Beatrix Jones Farrand, a landscape gardener and landscape architect in the United States, she has made more than 100 gardens, including the White House. She's a character so charming, I'm really happy to have been able to know.
It 's set in the United States and in some European countries between the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, a period of great revolution for women: they started to fight for their rights, to vote, to be able to work. Beatrix was born into a wealthy family and is set to become a wife and then a mother but her passion for the gardens was too strong. She will struggle to realize her dream and will get to choose between the passion for her work and the love of a boy just met: there will be a possibility to have both?
It 's written really well and the author has been very good to mix perfectly fiction with real events.
The wonderful cover perfectly reflects the book: there are wonderful descriptions of gardens around the world that that makes you want to have one right to cure.
I loved the story of the ghost of Nero: I live near Piazza del Popolo, and I have not jet met him.....
I recommend it to anyone who loves historical novels and stories with strong female characters.

[Marci Diehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book because I especially love the Belle Epoch period, and who doesn't like gardens, especially in places like Rome? I knew nothing of the real Beatrix Farrand (1872- 1959), a famed landscape designer ahead of her time, and the niece of novelist Edith Wharton, who appears as a character in the book along with real people like Henry James. Jeanne Mackin's writing is as elegant as the gowns of The Gilded Age, really lovely. What amazed me as I read was the fact that in many ways there were similarities in theme, romance, issues between mother and daughter, travel in Italy with her mother and aunt - so much of the same age-old story of a young woman at a crossroad during a seminal time in history, going forward, making choices about love and marriage -- as in my own novel, What You Don't Know Now, even though more tales place in Europe in the summer of 1967.

Mackin gave Beatrix "Amerigo Massimo" as a love in Rome. I gave Bridey "Alessandro DeLuca" in Assisi. Ages apart, but love can be experienced again and again in just the same ways by young women at the threshold of their lives. And they always come with fateful choices.

[Evagelia Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young woman named Beatrix Jones is expected to be married by society, but she has her own plans for her future. Witnessing relationships take a turn for the worse, including her mother's, makes her swear off marrying. She discovers that her true passion lies in gardening rather than being married off and remaining a housewife, so the aspiring landscaper travels across Europe with her mother and aunt to study the unique botanical aspects it has to offer. But while in Rome, she meets the endearing and warmhearted Amerigo Massimo, and she finds herself falling in love....

A Lady of Good Family is very playful and charming. I fell in love with certain characters because of their wit and charisma, while others I felt either comfortable with or absolutely loathed. The plot in itself was entertaining and I felt the time fly by as I opened up the pages. I felt as if Daisy (the narrator) had grabbed me by the hand and pulled me in through the adventure across Europe, America, and time.

[Sonia S. Kugler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keeping up with Joneses

I love this book. You will too if you like Edith Wharton's stories and Henry James. Though I have a special connection. When very young I once worked for a Jones lady as a secretary. This lady had chosen to be an attorney in the antitrust field when women were not truly accepted as equals in the legal profession. As the heroine in this story does both ladies excelled in their professions despite male and social prejudices.

To return to the book, the author captures the ambiance and social confines of New York's upper classes. Particularly, I enjoyed a literary blending of Jones and James influence in the background. Unlike Wharton, this author allows her characters some happiness and fulfillment in spite of their social "transgressions" which I enjoyed. Lily Bart broke my heart.

I did learn what "keeping up with Joneses"really means -- something I missed during my brief encounter with my Miss Jones. It means stepping out and daring...

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't what I expected. I went into it with high hopes, as it is the story of Beatrix Farrand, who was the first female landscape architect in the United States. I was hoping for gardens, plants, and the story of the struggle of a strong young woman fighting against society's expectations to marry, and to have a career...not only a career, but one in the male-dominated bastion of landscape architecture. The story is told from another character's POV, and Beatrix is a peripatetic character who wanders in and out of the story. The bulk of the story seems to be focused on a fictional love interest while Beatrix traveled in Italy, and little is related about her struggles to establish herself in her chosen field, and how she coped with society's reaction. There was also a lot of weight given to unhappy marriages (actually, all of the married characters are in unhappy marriages). This book was a let-down all the way around.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seemed to start a bit slowly, so one has to take some time to get into the story. I don't think the story becomes clear until fairly far into the book.

The narrator of the story is Daisy Winters, who was the model for the fictional character Daisy Miller. And in the book Daisy not only narrates the stories of Edith Wharton and Beatrix Farrand, and Minnie Jones (Beatrix's mother) but also her own story--all intertwined.

The author really seems to have captured the essence of feelings of the times: the differences in culture between Europe and America, the emerging strength of women's suffrage, and the changing views of a woman's place in the home and in society as a whole. This book shows on a very personal level how the mores of the times affected each of these ladies in very different ways, each having their life changed by the way they chose to deal with society's expectations of women.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the title and the lovely cover of this book, and that it was historical fiction involving one of my favorite authors (Edith Wharton) and her niece, a famous landscape artist who I hadn't heard of before. But I didn't like the way the story was told; I found it disjointed and confusing. It was mostly about one character (the niece), told by another character to complete strangers when she's an old lady, weaving back and forth between that and her own story and the niece's story. I didn't like that. There were also some random things in the plot that never went anywhere and it was a little too heavy on philosophizing and rhapsodizing about the joy and importance of gardens. The nitpicky copyeditor in me also noticed some inconsistencies in her descriptions of things, like describing Central Park as green even though it was a snowy winter day. But despite all that, it was pretty good.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beatrix Farrand was a garden designer in a time when it was rare for a woman to chose to work and rarer still to have a career. In this book, Jeanne Mackin imagines Beatrix at the point in her life when she was starting on that career, traveling through Europe as part of her design training. While there, she begins a relationship that forces her to decide between her career or marriage.

Readers who enjoy Gilded Age authors such a Edith Wharton and Henry James will enjoy the cross-overs in this novel, as both play supporting roles in the story. Fact: Beatrix was a niece of Edith Wharton, and Henry James was a close friend of Edith's and moved in the same social and literary circles. Fiction: the narrator Daisy, whose experiences in romance in Italy were borrowed by Henry James to become his novel "Daisy Miller".

[Megan Coppadge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book via a Goodreads Giveaway.

It took me until chapter 10 to really get into this book. It was good and I liked it I was just now wowed by it. The narrative was great. A story being told within a story. I loved how this book was based on real historical people and events. I wish there was an epilogue telling what happened to the people but I guess that's what the internet is for. I love how independent Beatrix is in a time when women were not supposed to be independent. They were supposed to stay home and take care of the children and running of the house.

It's was a good read once I got further into the book and I'm happy I stuck with it.