Louis Bromfield

Mrs. Parkington has ascended the social ladder and is now a lady of great wealth. But the children of the wealthy often lack the qualities of their forebears. The book chronicles the life of Susie Parkington, who rose from humble beginnings as a boarding house maid to become the wife of a Gilded Age robber baron. She lives in splendour and navigates the complex, often scandalous problems of her descendants, whom she largely despises for their lack of substance-except for her great-granddaughter Janie.