Maverick in Mauve: The Diary of a Romantic Age

by Florence Adele Sloane, Louis Auchincloss

The landscapes of Edith Wharton form the backdrop to this diary of a beautiful, passionate woman who lived at the pinnacle of New York society at the turn of the twentieth century. Florence Adele Sloane was barely twenty when she swirled through the ballrooms of New York and Newport, cruised in the Mediterranean, and took in the sights of London and Paris. In these pages, interspersed with the commentary of Louis Auchincloss and 85 period photographs, the reader sees Adele moving through the opulence and extravagance of that privileged an enchantress who is like a prisoner in a gilded cage-her talent constrained by conventions, her creativity stifled by the seductive splendor of New York's Four Hundred. In the end we see her marry a rich, socially prominent young man and embark on a life we are not sure will live up to her dreams.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

227 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1983

Reviews

[Ann]

This book is built around the diary of Florence Adele Sloane, a young woman from New York's richest circles, around the years 1893-1896, when she was in her late teens and early twenties. Excerpts from the diary are alternated with chapters written by Louis Auchincloss, the well-known novelist who was himself a product of those same families (his wife, as a matter of fact, was Florence Adele's granddaughter). Dozens of family photographs show us portraits of the diarist, her friends and family, and the Gilded Age mansions they lived in.
The book is interesting as a first-person account of a heiress during the Gilded Age, but that's about it. Florence Adele is a pretty typical young woman, I think. Most of her diary is taken up with descriptions of her pastimes -horseback riding, buggy driving, music- and her ceaseless moving about, from New York to Bar Harbor to Asheville to Rhode Island to Paris back to the US to London to a cruise in the Mediterranean.

Her other main preoccupation is her admirers. I don't know what it was with young men of the late 19th century, but it seems that they did little else than declare everlasting love at every opportunity. And since these elite folks tended to meet again and again, within their limited circle of acquaintances and family members, Florence Adele keeps finding herself on horseback rides or at musical evenings with a handful of men who talk of love...talk which she faithfully records in her journal. She herself asks herself the usual young woman's questions : who do I love? What is love? Will it last? Towards the end of the excerpts, she has become engaged to one of the many young men who has fluttered around her for the past year or so. The rest of her life is summarized in a few pages : marriage, the loss of her first baby, then 3 healthy children, widowhood, remarriage, a ripe old age.

I wish I could say that the diary excerpts offered a real insight into Gilded Age, but these are just the jottings of a young girl, with fun and romance on her mind. There are no particularly deep or original thoughts here, no special insights. Florence Adele even makes the comment somewhere that she is not like a (rich) friend of hers, who wonders what it would be like to live in a tenement and cook and clean, without servants. Girls just wanna have fun! There's nothing wrong with that, and Florence Adele certainly enjoyed her privileged life - but after a while, the enumeration of rides, drives, musical entertainments, trips and visits becomes monotonous.

[Lindsay Heller]

I really enjoyed this diary. Florence Adele Sloane was the daughter of Emily Vanderbilt Sloane, granddaughter of William Henry Vanderbilt, and great granddaughter of the Commodore. Nothing huge happens here; a privileged girl goes from lovely local to lovely local hanging out with friends and trying to figure out the inevitable trajectory of her life. But I loved reading her thoughts and feelings. And I really liked Adele a lot.

[Gaile]

This is all about the gilded age. Florence Adele Sloane, a daughter of Emily Vanderbilt keeps a diary of her youth in the 1890's.

[Brian]

These are the diaries of Florence Adele Sloane, a scion of the Vanderbilt family. Her grandson-in-law, Louis Auchincloss, edited them and provided some commentary that helps us put some of the entries into context. The diaries are annotated, so it's very easy reading.

I really enjoyed this look into Gilded Age life. Adele's life isn't covered when talking about the Gilded Age as a whole, so it was refreshing to get a different perspective on it. The book is full of photos, which serve to enhance its readability.

Recommended for those that enjoy reading about the Gilded Age.

[jmilesc]

I enjoyed this book, a lot- primarily because I’ve been in the midst of a Gilded Age/Vanderbilt binge- reading various books- and while in the midst of reading “The Vanderbilt Women”, which reads like a history book- having this first person diary account of the time and people made it all that much more interesting- having read historical accounts of many of the personalities involved.
The commentary by Louis Auchincloss was excellent.