THE WITCH OF WALL STREET by Marie Benedict

5 stars

Another AMAZING historical women’s fiction novel set in the Gilded Age from Benedict, this time focused on the colorful rise of Henrietta “Hetty” Green, an unusually successful businesswoman during the Civil War and Western expansion of the United States. As Benedict captures Hetty’s little known story, we learn how she became unflatteringly and unfairly nicknamed the Witch of Wall Street by businessmen jealous of the huge fortune she amassed by investing in nascent railroads.

Born into a Quaker family in New Bedford, MA, Hetty helps her grandfather and then her father with all the intricacies that make their large whaling fleet a hugely successful business. She’s treated the same as a man and has expertly learned to manage the business while keeping her eye on larger trends within business. As crude oil can finally be processed, which will lead to an inevitable demise in the need for whale oil to fuel America, Hetty convinces her father to move to New York City to pursue broader business opportunities, from focus on cargo being carried from around the world to the expansion of railroads in which Hetty sees the greatest opportunity.

Another source of angst for Hetty: her traditionalist Aunt on her fathers’ side who took Hetty in to raise her after Hetty’s mom died and wants Hetty to find an advantageous society marriage. Hetty realizes as she gives New York high society a go with her cousins that men want a subservient bauble in their wives. Breaking all the molds of Victorian society, Hetty walks away to dedicate herself fully to the family business with her father.

Along the way, Hetty learns she’ll have to go it alone, as she gets constantly disappointed by men’s unwillingness to cede power to her as she’s a woman. She makes shrewd, value-based investments focused on her vision of railroads ultimately connecting all of America, and by serving as a private banker making strategic business loans. She secretly gives generously to the poor, along with making low-rate loans to bail out Wall Street and New York City during the banking Panic of 1907.

Shining a light on the full complexity of Hetty, Benedict delivers us an intrepid heroine, freeing her from the disparagement of her day and placing her alongside male financial luminaries we all know.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley, for an advance reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.