American Royalty
Augie van Meer believes he can dream a new life into reality.
It’s 1974, and the struggling actor empties his bank account to rent a carriage house in Newport, RI for the summer. His goal: to marry an heiress by Labor Day.
Armed with movie-star looks and a big dose of positive thinking, Augie stumbles through the manicured world of Gilded Age cottages, private clubs, and codes he can’t quite crack. But once Daphne Moorecourt, the temperamental daughter of one of Newport’s most prominent families, falls for him, Augie is on his way.
Augie fends off rivals, dodges questions about his past, and resists the overtures of a troubled beauty. He takes sailing lessons from Erin Reilly, the sharp-minded, feminist daughter of Irish immigrants who is preoccupied with unravelling a mystery in her own family.
A single sailing trip changes everything.
Against the backdrop of Newport’s transformation from a rundown port with a storied past to a bustling tourist town, Augie and his peers are forced to confront the cost of survival in a bubble of privilege, and to decide who really creates the American dream and who merely inherits a story.
Praise
“Cue the Newport lockjaw… American Royalty is absolutely divine! Rarely have I read such an assured, well-plotted, laugh-out-loud first novel, filled with compelling characters who reveal their true selves in tune with the twisty events, and that offers deep insights and shrewd observations from the first page to the last. This is a great book club pick, or a novel to escape to over a weekend. Where has Susan Price been when I have needed her wit and wisdom? She is an author to watch.”
—Alice Elliott Dark, author of In the Gloaming and Fellowship Point
“American Royalty is an engaging novel peppered with memorable, laugh-out-loud moments. History buffs and children of the ’70s will recognize the astutely presented social landscape of the era. Price is a remarkable stylist who knows her craft.”
—Suzy Vitello, author of Griftopia
Book Club Guide
- Daphne and Meade fight for their family homes, while Erin and Augie always expected to leave their hometowns. How much does where you grew up shape your own identity, and what does it mean to you to have stayed or left?
- Augie arrives in Newport willing to sacrifice true love to build a secure future. How do you feel about marriage as a practical choice rather than a romantic one? Do you think it is different for men?
- Augie is inspired by Reverend Ike, a minister in New York City who had a popular radio show in the 1970s, to believe in the power of optimism and visualizing a prosperous future. Do you think affirmations and mantras can have a positive impact on someone’s life? Have you ever used them?
- Erin struggles to decide whether to tell her mother about Nora Murphy. Do you think she made the right choice?
- Both Newport and New York City were struggling financially in the 1970s. At the same time, feminism, civil rights, and other cultural shifts were gaining traction. Do you think it is necessary for a society to struggle before it can change? What about people?
- Looking back on the feminist movement in the 1970s, what do you think has changed for better or worse for women, and what would you like to change now?
- Celebrities and wealthy people have a big role in shaping how America defines itself and what many other people aspire to. Do you think they have too much power?