The Gilded Age was a time of abject poverty and obscene wealth, robber baron mansions and wretched tenements, institutions and individuals nakedly vulnerable to crime. In this vortex of lucre and starvation, an ambitious girl named Fanny brings her hopes to the bustling and bruising cities of industrial America.

But Fanny soon learns harsh lessons about the ruthlessness of capitalism and the immutability of social class. As she struggles to survive, Fanny catches a glimpse of a glittering future in the form of captivating socialites. Casting off the seemingly unbreakable strictures of her background and class, Fanny embarks on a darkly thrilling transformation.

From this urban hotbed, Kitty Warren emerges--a forger, con artist, and thief. Exploiting the greed and self-regard of the powerful, Kitty's cynical view of the world sets her in vengeful and reckless pursuit of an ideal of life and a love that threatens to trample anything--and anyone--in her way.

With schemes more wicked than Jay Gatsby's, and with more humanity than Tom Ripley, Kitty Warren exposes the dark heart of the American dream, making Forged by turns a gripping narrative and a parable for the ages.