Why the Gilded Age Became the Foundation of Bloodlines

An interview with William B. Taylor

Cove Point Manor is fictional. The Farnsworth family is fictional. The story that unfolds around them is fictional. But the world in which Bloodlines begins was built on something very real: the extraordinary wealth, ambition and architecture of America's Gilded Age.

In this Reader Insights interview, William B. Taylor explains how a discovery within his own family tree led him to F. W. Woolworth, how that discovery helped inspire Cove Point Manor, and why the Gilded Age became more than a historical backdrop—it became the foundation on which the Bloodlines story was built.

What first drew you to the Gilded Age?

I've been fascinated by the handful of people who created what Mark Twain referred to as the Gilded Age. The amount of wealth concentrated into such a small group of wildly wealthy families, and their attempts to outdo one another with incredible mansions—especially their "summer cottages" along the New England coast—drew me to their individual stories when I was not yet a teenager.

Then I discovered many of these people hidden within my own extended family tree, especially Frank Winfield Woolworth. The story behind his summer mansion, Winfield Hall, was the impetus for creating Cove Point Manor.

What was it about that world that made it such a natural foundation for Bloodlines?

I think that particular period in time, especially in American history, is often glamorized, and people forget that for the vast majority of the world, life was a daily struggle just to survive.

For the very privileged few, money seemed to have lost its true meaning and became a way to try and determine how worthy one was through the building of such homes and pretending that life, at least for them, was perfect—which, of course, it wasn't.

How did that idea find its way into the Farnsworth family?

The wealth that the Farnsworths had, and in particular Rebecca Farnsworth's insatiable need to not only fit in to that Gilded Age society, but try to reach its height and control it, was the trigger behind her family's dysfunction and ultimately what set off the events that wouldn't come to a conclusion until 100 years later.

How much of the real world is behind the Farnsworth story?

The F. W. Woolworth family was the inspiration, and I took that inspiration and came up with a plausible, although completely fictional story based on the premise of Gilded Age wealth and, of course, a fictional Gilded Age mansion.

The story behind the Farnsworth family, Cove Point Manor and the wealth that came along is pretty well grounded in historical facts that make the story plausible, although not taking any single Gilded Age story and reworking it to fit my particular story. This is a mixture of historical facts used as background for someone who is truly interested in, or well versed in the Gilded Age itself.

Why did you need the fortune and the mansion to survive?

If I hadn't kept the fortune and the mansion in trust, then a story about a person who discovered that he was heir to nothing, and no estate, would really have been incredibly boring. There would be no story without the money or the mansion...at least not one that I would consider interesting.

What does Cove Point Manor contribute to the story?

As someone that appreciates interesting architecture that has stood the test of time, I thought that the mansion itself would become an interesting background within the story. If Alex had simply seen the mansion, thought it was too big or too old, and sold it and moved into a custom-built McMansion back in Toronto, I don't think the story would have the same soul, and no one wants to read a story about a haunted newly built mansion... at least not since Poltergeist.

How do you see the mansion itself?

The story doesn't focus on the mansion itself, at least not in the way that it does with the other characters. The mansion is the setting, and yes, it does have its own personality, but it doesn't overshadow the other characters. It is there to enhance, and to allow new doors to different worlds to open as needed, such as having a large ballroom for parties that took place a century ago, and now serving as a setting for present-day events.

The size of the property is hinted at, never stated. If I said that Cove Point Manor was a 25,000-square-foot French country style mansion with a ballroom, music room, conservatory, and listed off every room, function and feature, it would lose its mystique. I have purposely allowed the mansion to be "huge" without specifying what that huge means, and I reveal new rooms, features and treasures as the stories progress.

In that sense, Cove Point Manor is a key background player, like a silent butler or maid that stands quietly in the corner, always seen, but only heard when spoken to.

What do you hope readers experience when they enter that world?

I really want the reader to imagine whatever it is they imagine in a wonderful and large mansion. This is fiction, after all, and reading a story like Cove Point Manor is a form of escapism.

I'm not trying to teach a lesson about how many of the incredibly wealthy people can be self-centered or self-absorbed, or that they all should give more back to those in our society that struggle just to survive.

This is simply a fantasy world in which wealth can and does bring great privilege to some, but if they abuse that privilege, then there are consequences for their selfish actions.

So why does the Gilded Age matter to the story?

The simplest answer is that it was the inspiration behind the story that asked me to write it, and the Gilded Age itself created the wealth that allowed the building to exist, and that same age created the ignition point of the family that Cove Point Manor is about.

Is Bloodlines intended to recreate the real Gilded Age?

No. The Gilded Age is the foundation. The historical details help make the fictional world plausible for readers who are interested in, or well versed in, the period, but the Farnsworth family and Cove Point Manor are my own fictional creation.

The Gilded Age is only the foundation for the current Bloodlines universe...at least for the first 3 books!

What do you hope readers take away from the setting?

I really just want them to believe the story as plausible, or even possible. And I promise that they won't have to take a test at the end of the book to convince me that they read every little detail. ;)

The Gilded Age may have provided the foundation. The Bloodlines universe is still being built.

Reader Insights • William B. Taylor Books