What to read after watching The Gilded Age on HBO Max
- Dane Luna
- Aug 3
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 3
With compelling storylines, top-notch production value, and a talented cast portraying the most colorful characters, it's no surprise HBO's The Gilded Age is a huge hit. It is, after all, written and created by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame.
With The Gilded Age, he takes his unique blend of family drama, class commentary, historical references and the occasional bit of humor across the pond to America.
This season of The Gilded Age was particularly entertaining and I found myself looking forward to a new episode every week and hurriedly listening to its companion podcast after each one. I love that the series harks back to either real people or historical events that actually took place during the real-life Gilded Age.
With the season ending, we're faced with a long wait for the next one (thankfully The Gilded Age has been renewed for Season 4!), but you can still escape to that time period with these cozy mystery books!
Emma Cross, society page reporter, cousin to Consuelo Vanderbilt and occasional amateur sleuth, must solve the murder of a fortune teller at the Vanderbilt summer house in Newport and the mystery of her cousin's disappearance.
Heiress Prudence MacKenzie's search for Marie Antoinette's stolen diamonds leads her to the murder of a jeweler. Little does she know, it's only the first of a string of mysterious deaths.
Stella Kendrick is an all-American heiress who can’t be tamed. But when the lively aspiring equine trainer tangles with British aristocracy, she meets her match—and a murderer...
Our Featured Drink: Coffee Eggs from the 18th Century!
My research for coffee recipes from around the time of the Gilded Age kept bringing me to a particular ingredient: eggs. From swedish egg coffee to many other recipes documented in various cookbooks from the time period, eggs were apparently used to "clear" or "clarify" coffee.
The Fannie Farmer 1896 Cook Book from The Boston Cooking School has four coffee recipes, including boiled coffee which includes the use of eggs, including eggshells! The cookbook also has recipes for German coffee bread and coffee cake.
While I have tried egg coffee in Vietnam (which was amazing!), I can't vouch for the recipe below from The Professed Cook, a book from 1769 and well before the Gilded Age. It looks very...interesting!
And if you're interested in more Gilded Age recipes and restaurant lore, have a look at the books below!
Which characters in The Gilded Age would make the perfect amateur sleuth?
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