Seven novels that tell the story of Gilded Age NYC

Simon Baatz is a New York Times-bestselling author and award-winning historian. His latest book is The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century.

At CrimeReads Baatz tagged seven novels that tell the story of Gilded Age New York City, including:

Henry James, Washington Square (1880)

James set most of his best-known novels in England and continental Europe but he had been born in New York, at 21 Washington Place, and one of his earliest works, Washington Square, is set in one of the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Austin Sloper, a wealthy physician, worries that his dull, commonplace daughter, Catherine, has attracted a suitor, Morris Townsend, who seeks only to get hold of her inheritance. He refuses his consent to the marriage and Catherine finds herself torn between her father’s disapproval and her affection for Morris.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Washington Square is among Four books that changed Rachel Seiffert, four books that changed Ian McGuire, five books that changed Carol Wall, and Will Eaves's top ten siblings' stories.

--Marshal Zeringue