by Susan G. Mathis

Welcome back to Susan G. Mathis, friend and fellow author at Wild Heart Books. Libby’s Lighthouse is her latest   Thousand Islands Gilded Age story. I loved it! Thanks for joining us today, Susan!

The American Gilded Age was a time of rapid technical advances, industrialization, and thousands of new inventions from about 1870-1910. Mark Twain coined the term in his 1873 novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today that satirized the era of social problems that were masked by a layer of thin, gold gilding. It’s a fascinating time in history, especially in the Thousand Islands.

All of my books are set during the Thousand Islands Gilded Age, when the wealthy came and scooped up the islands and built lavish summer homes, mansions, and castles. It was an era of economic growth. Since wages were higher than Europe, massive immigration drew about twenty million to the U.S. shores.

Unfortunately, it was also a time of unequal distribution of wealth where the rich got richer and the poor working class suffered. Many young women worked as servants until they married, and that’s what my stories are about—those nameless, faithful women who cooked and cleaned and served tables for the rich and famous. These “downstairs” women had fascinating stories to tell, and I plan to tell many of them.

During the Gilded Age, America led the world in innovation. A half-million patents were issued for new inventions including hundreds by Thomas Edison, Westinghouse, and others. Thanks to inventions such as delivery of electric power, the world became lighter, safer, more convenient and comfortable, and all around better.

About Susan’s latest Thousand Islands Gilded Age story, Libby’s Lighthouse:

Elizabeth Montonna, daughter of the Tibbett’s Point Lighthouse keeper, finds a mysterious sailor with amnesia, his kindness and character steal a little more of her heart each day. But secrets haunt Libby and may change her life forever. When Owen is ship wrecked, he accepts the hospitality of the lighthouse keeper and his lovely daughter. His relationship with Libby turns into something more, but their budding romance can go no further until he uncovers his past. As Owen inches closer to discovering the secrets of his identity, will the revelations bring him closer to Libby or tear them apart forever?

Amazon

About Susan G Mathis:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has twelve in her fiction line including Libby’s Lighthouse. Find out more at www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction