Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen


2010 Lincoln Award Winner Nominee

Edith Wharton meets The Gossip Girls in this intriguing novel about five teens of different social classes in Manhattan during the late 19th century. Despite the strict rules of society and the best-laid plans of parents and others, they lead dangerously scandalous lives. - Ms. Monegato

A big, sumptuous tale of catty girls, dark secrets and windswept romance unfurls in this compulsively readable novel of late-19th-century New York City socialites. Godbersen weaves a tenuous web of deceit, backstabbing and pretense that follows four teens: Elizabeth Holland, a prim and proper lady of old-money society, is betrothed to one man, though furtively loves another; Henry Schoonmaker, a debauched playboy who must marry Elizabeth or be disinherited; Diana Holland, Elizabeth’s younger sister who is in love with her fiancĂ©; and Penelope Hayes, a member of the nouveau riche who will stop at nothing to win Henry’s affections. As Elizabeth and Henry’s wedding approaches, the spectacle unfolds in a wondrously grandiose scene, making for a fun, though not entirely unexpected dĂ©nouement. A delicious new twist along the Gossip Girl vein, readers will clamor for this sharp, smart drama of friends, lovers, lies and betrayal. - from Kirkus Reviews

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