An American Beauty: A Novel of the Gilded Age Inspired by the True Story of Arabella Huntington Who Became the Richest Woman in the Country

Arabella “Belle” Huntington, based on a real historical figure of the same name, is the protagonist of An American Beauty. Belle was born Arabella Duval Yarrington; she went on to be known as Mrs. Belle Worsham when she first arrived in New York, and eventually became Mrs. Huntington two times over when she married first Collis Huntington and then his nephew, Henry Edwards Huntington, a few decades later after Collis’s death.

In the novel, Belle is portrayed as a bold, unafraid, and ambitious young woman. She is the most beautiful of her mother’s five children, and she has been taught to wield this beauty as power from a young age, when Belle began working in Johnny Worsham’s gambling saloon. Belle internalizes the axiom that Catherine drills into all her children from a very young age, owing to her own life experiences: “Take what you can, when you can” (35). Thus, Belle is prompt and unflinching in the face of opportunity, and eagerly and willingly engages Collis’s affections when he first shows interest in her.

Belle’s ambition is aided by her intelligence and resourcefulness. Even when she meets Collis as a young 17-year-old, she knows enough to do her research about his background.