...
Show More
The novel concerns the fate of several young women in the 1870s who travel to Britain and marry into the aristocracy. The girls, Virginia and Nan, are sisters. Lizzy Ellsworth is Virginia’s best friend. Mabel is Lizzy’s younger sister. Conchita, the newest group member, is the most daring and lively ringleader. She encourages Nan to try cigarettes and is the source of concern for Virginia and Nan’s mother. Their father, the Colonel, an affluent businessman in New York, is always seeking to network. That’s why Conchita was brought into Virginia’s and Nan’s orbit. Conchita is the daughter of a man the Colonel is trying to get to invest with him.
The other girls have known each other for years. When it becomes time for Virginia and Nan to come out into society, their families find it hard to get invited to the best parties in New York. They are affluent but don’t have the pedigree of the finest families. Through the intervention of a new governess of Nan’s, an idea is hatched to send the girls to England and have them meet the landed gentry. In the meantime, Conchita has married a lord and lives there so that she can help with introductions. When the young women return to New York, they will undoubtedly have a cache about them, and their entry into the highest echelons of the city’s society will open.
Of course, the Americans in England cause a stir. The American girls are less inhibited and radiate a happy charm. Some men they meet quickly become interested in the Americans’ wealth. The aristocrats have titles but are burdened with the financial responsibilities of maintaining their families’ estates. Rather than return to the US, Virginia, and Nan marry a Lord and a Duke, respectively.
Life is not as simple as the girls remember in New York. Some expectations come with their roles. Nan, especially, begins to chafe under her duties. She has been unable to conceive and finds herself thinking about a man she met when she first arrived in England. They were friends, but she wonders if there was something more. Something worth risking her carefully managed reputation.
I found the first part of the book more engaging than the end. Edith Wharton constructs high society with social rules that are almost unintelligible to readers in modern times. There are some things, though, that are understood today. She depicts the anxiety of parents’ intent on enhancing their reputations through their children. Unlike modern novels, this one has a linear plot, and the reader discovers what has happened through discussions among the characters. There is more telling than showing. The story is an interesting one. This incomplete novel wasn’t finished because of the author’s death. Another author finished the book according to an outline Wharton had made. Writing style changes occur about three-fourths of the way through as the descriptive expositions turn to summaries.
The other girls have known each other for years. When it becomes time for Virginia and Nan to come out into society, their families find it hard to get invited to the best parties in New York. They are affluent but don’t have the pedigree of the finest families. Through the intervention of a new governess of Nan’s, an idea is hatched to send the girls to England and have them meet the landed gentry. In the meantime, Conchita has married a lord and lives there so that she can help with introductions. When the young women return to New York, they will undoubtedly have a cache about them, and their entry into the highest echelons of the city’s society will open.
Of course, the Americans in England cause a stir. The American girls are less inhibited and radiate a happy charm. Some men they meet quickly become interested in the Americans’ wealth. The aristocrats have titles but are burdened with the financial responsibilities of maintaining their families’ estates. Rather than return to the US, Virginia, and Nan marry a Lord and a Duke, respectively.
Life is not as simple as the girls remember in New York. Some expectations come with their roles. Nan, especially, begins to chafe under her duties. She has been unable to conceive and finds herself thinking about a man she met when she first arrived in England. They were friends, but she wonders if there was something more. Something worth risking her carefully managed reputation.
I found the first part of the book more engaging than the end. Edith Wharton constructs high society with social rules that are almost unintelligible to readers in modern times. There are some things, though, that are understood today. She depicts the anxiety of parents’ intent on enhancing their reputations through their children. Unlike modern novels, this one has a linear plot, and the reader discovers what has happened through discussions among the characters. There is more telling than showing. The story is an interesting one. This incomplete novel wasn’t finished because of the author’s death. Another author finished the book according to an outline Wharton had made. Writing style changes occur about three-fourths of the way through as the descriptive expositions turn to summaries.