Calling All Fans of the Biltmore in Asheville…
Friends! Anybody besides me a fan of the gorgeous Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina? Touring thru’ the expansive home, its gardens and shops (!!!) always amazes and never disappoints.
This post will reveal TWO BOOKS you’ll adore if you’re a Biltmore fan. One is a novel and one is a factual-n-fascinating book all about the Vanderbilt’s family, how they acquired the land to build the “last castle,” what it took to get it built, and other details you’ll delight to discover.
The books? The fiction selection is: Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham.
And the non-fiction selection is: The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan.
Let’s start with the novel, Hope Between the Pages. This page-turner is everything you could dream of. Set in two different time eras, we readers get to meet Sadie, who worked for Mrs. Vanderbilt. Due to a series of circumstances, Sadie becomes the “Keeper of the Library.” Quite a job with so many volumes in the vast library at the Biltmore. (Don’t miss the astonishing stats of the library in our next book, The Last Castle.)
CHECKOUT AUTHOR PEPPER BASHAM’S WEBISTE:
Sadie quickly catches on, a voracious reader, recommending numerous volumes to guests of the Biltmore. She’s perfectly suited for this position.. You’ll be amused at her exchanges with one male guest in particular, leaving him notes and books he winds up loving. She calls herself the “Library Fairy,” while he dubs himself “The Visiting Book Goblin.” Could love be in the air?
Mrs. Vanderbilt is quite fond of Sadie. She tosses her a few assignments for the Vanderbilt’s guests, some of which work out and some of which are nothing short of disastrous . You’ll laugh out loud at more than one!
By the time Sadie became the keeper of the library, George Vanderbilt had died an early death. However, he was integral in building the library early on, amassing volumes of every genre, young and old. Edith said George used to say,
In our next book, The Last Castle, which we’ll discuss in a minute, it was said of George that books were his constant companions.
Meanwhile, our modern day character, Clara, owns a bookshop in Biltmore Village. The remarkable connection she discovers to Sadie is breathtaking and throws more than one plot twist into the mix. I read this book wide-eyed the entire time, many times declaring, “No way!” to which my better two-thirds would say, “What happened?” To which I’d reply,, “Ahhh, you must read this to find out!”
Of course there’s a villain trying to overtake Clara’s bookshop. Oh, but don’t miss her efforts in trying to keep it.
We readers also get to see letters back and forth between Edith Vanderbilt and Sadie. One of many favorite quotes is:
“It is strange how dreams can shift and change but the heart behind them beats with the same desire as when those dreams were forged. Books and imagination brought me love. Love inspired my hope, and hope led me to purpose…to serve others through generosity, kindness, and ….books. Isn’t it a wonder how God fashioned my desires into a greater story framed in by a beautiful binding—like the two covers of a book.”
You don’t want to miss Hope Between the Pages which will draw you in and not let you put it down until the end…
Now let’s talk about The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home, by Denise Kiernan, who’s a New York Times Bestseller.
A friend recommended this book after I told her about Hope Between the Pages because she had just finished The Last Castle.
John and I’ve always loved going to the Biltmore. One summer when two of our boys were in the same wedding in Highland, NC, we took our kids to the Biltmore on the way to the wedding. They were blown away by ALL the details of the estate.
After reading The Last Castle, I am dying to return to the Biltmore and take it all in. I believe “The Behind-the-Scenes” Tour will be a must after reading both of these books. Many things were happening behind closed doors that guests and visitors would completely be unaware of.
The book opens by introducing us to Edith Dresser (who later became Mrs. George Vanderbilt). Edith’s Grandmother “was a woman at ease in the world of drawing rooms and calling cards.” Because Edith’s parents died at such young ages, she and her siblings went to live with their Aunt, and then ultimately with their Grandmother.
Meanwhile, George Vanderbilt was the son of the Vanderbilt dynasty, having an altogether different upbringing from Edith’s. Don’t miss the details!
George, much different from his brothers, enjoyed the arts, delighting in all of his Fathers’ collection of paintings, sculptures, and books. You’ll love learning about George’s faith, even from a young boy. Diary entries are included in the book…A consummate bibliophile, George became a founding member of, get this: the Bibliophilic Grolier Club, becoming fluent in EIGHT DIFFERENT LANGUAGES!
Traveling often to Asheville, usually with his Mother, they stayed in a hotel with a vista of the mountains. Don’t miss how he discovers Pisgah and associates it with Moses’ trek up “from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nero to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land…” (Deuteronomy 34:1)
Asheville was growing rapidly, and was often referred to as “a gilt-edged health resort.” We readers get to see how George acquired several tracts of land (upwards of 2,000 acres, which was only the beginning!) as well as witness the unfolding of a team of experts to take on such a vast project of building the Biltmore estate. George’s vision must have been incredible!
One of many favorite discoveries includes a friendship George made with the talented Frederick Law Olmsted, who you Louisvillians are familiar with. We’ve been told he designed some of our yard where we’re currently living.
Olmsted is who designed the “Approach Road” (yes, three MILES LONG), which always creates anticipation until the magnificent estate comes into view. It’s dubbed a “landscape surprise.” Olmsted also helped George hire a gifted expert in managed forestry which he felt the land desperately needed.
The statistics included will make your brain hurt! For example, 4,200 species of trees and shrubs were growing in Chauncey Beadle’s nursery. Chauncey was also hired by George. Don’t miss what the 175,000 square foot “house” includes. (See p.66!!!)
For all you Parisian fans, Edith’s visits to Paris don’t disappoint. We readers feel as if we’re right there with her on the Champs-Elysees. And for you Frenchies, Edith and her sisters were fluent in French, the lovely language of which is also dotted throughout the book.
All this time you’re wondering how Edith and George meet. Ahhh, my friend, you must read the book to find out. It’s nothing short of a miracle…
The media constantly addressed George’s bachelorhood. So once his and Edith’s engagement was announced, the press had its’ hey day, especially throughout the society pages “across the country and across the Atlantic!” We readers even get to be in on their FOUR MONTH HONEYMOON….
The Chief forester, Schenk, was especially taken with Edith declaring, “She had that fine social instinct that her husband unfortunately lacked.” Delightful humor such as this is also throughout the book.
Another fun aspect of this book are the many celebrities you’ll meet: Artists, writers, more than one of our Presidents of the United States, etc. This adds to the fascination the book creates, page-by-page. One celebrity I kept wondering about, finally showed up as author Denise Kiernan ends a cliff-hanger chapter with, “After all, every castle needs a princess!”
Another home-idea-turned-hotel you’ll get to see be built by none other than Edwin Wiley Grove—is yes, the Grove Park Inn. Don’t miss the relationships the Grove Park and the Biltmore build together…It’s another fabulous destination with a view like no other and fireplaces you could walk in they’re so big.
Finally, we get to see the many altruistic efforts and creations in their community, i.e. schools, etc. the Vanderbilts start, always looking after others especially those who work for them. Most of their efforts have had a lasting effect.
Don’t miss the extensive Notes and Sources at the end (a mere seventy-nine pages!), plus Discussion Questions for book clubs as well as an interview with Denise. (She reveals her favorite room in the Biltmore—can you guess?) Extremely thorough comes to mind.
Now you know how we like to close, “Run, don’t walk and grab BOTH of these books. They go beautifully together and would also make excellent gifts for your friends.
‘Til next time!
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