The Luxe (2007) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

show spoilers

• Elizabeth Adora Holland: Oldest of the Holland sisters, at 18 years of age, is breathtakingly beautiful. Elizabeth (Lizzy or Liz) is exceptionally polite and has impeccable behavior. She is Manhattan's top socialite and the perfect example of a lady, but we all have our weaknesses. She is the eldest daughter of the late Mr. Edward Holland and his widow, Louisa Gansevoort Holland.
• Diana Holland: The youngest out of the two Holland sisters, at 16 years of age, and no less gorgeous than her sister. Diana is a free spirit and doesn't like to conform to society's rules of how a lady should act and behave in social affairs. If she is not cautious, she could find the thing she wants more than anything in the world in someone else's hands.
• Penelope Hayes: At 18 year's of age, Penelope Hayes is new money. Her style is garish and behavior quite presumptuous but she still is one of Manhattan's most beautiful women (which she loves being reminded of repeatedly by her close friend Buck). Penelope is quite resourceful at getting whatever she wants and will stop at nothing to get what she most desires. She is said to be Elizabeth's true best friend but isn't much of a friend at all.
• Henry Schoonmaker: At 20 years of age, Henry Schoonmaker is one of Manhattan's most eligible and wealthy bachelors. Every woman in New York wants to marry him but one. He is know for his reputation as a Playboy, many think he will never settle down, but not if his father has any say. He is the only son of William Schoonmaker.
• Carolina "Lina" Broud: At age 17, she has been serving for the Hollands her entire life. Lina is Elizabeth Holland's personal servant, and although she has features some would think pretty, she can't stop from being jealous of Elizabeth's beauty and of a certain possession of hers. She fancies Will. She also has a wild daring side that can get the best of her.
• Claire Broud: Claire is Lina's older and more rational sister. She loves to read all the gossip about the wealthier people in New York. Claire has been working for the Hollands her entire life, and is Diana's personal servant.
• Edward "Teddy" Cutting: Teddy is Henry Schoonmaker's loyal best friend, and has watched with hilarity at Henry flirt with almost all of Manhattan's socialites, but Teddy knows when certain lines shouldn't be crossed. He is known for being so lighthearted and for proposing twice to Elizabeth.
• Isabelle Schoonmaker: Isabelle is the beautiful young wife of a much older William Schoonmaker, Henry Schoonmaker's father. She was one of Manhattan's most talked about socialites before she was married, and being married does have it's advantages.
• William Thomas Keller: Will is the Hollands stable boy and coachman. He was childhood friends with Elizabeth and Lina, and maybe something more?
• Edith Holland: Edward Holland's younger sister. She divorced her husband, making her one of the first women to move prominently in society. She lives with the Holland family.
• Isaac Phillips Buck: He has a distant relation to the old Buck clan or so he says. He is the loyal friend of Penelope, and New York's best party planner.
• James Haverton: Webster Youngham's assistant.
• Mr. Carroll: The Hollands' dressmaker.
• Percival Coddington: A rich gentleman that no one thinks is attractive. He seems very clumsy and awkward.
• William Sackhouse Schoonmaker: The father of Henry Schoonmaker. Patriarch of the Old Schoonmaker clan and who had made a second fortune in railroads. A very angry and unfriendly man.
• Stanley Brennan: Edward Holland's accountant.
• Hilda: A maid at the Schoonmaker household.
• Agnes Jones: She often claims that she was best friends with Elizabeth. She no longer has any money and her father threw himself over the Brooklyn bridge.
• Mrs. Faber: The head servant at the Hollands' household
• Edward Holland: Elizabeth's father
• James Hazen Hyde: One of Manhattan's bachelors. He acquired a majority of the Equity Life Assurance Society.
• Brody Parker Fish: One of Manhattan's bachelors. His family's town house neighbored the Hollands' on Gramercy Park.
• Nicholas Livingston: One of Manhattan's bachelors. He often competed with Amos to be Elizabeth's partner at the dance floor.
• Amos Vreewold: One of Manhattan's bachelors. He often competed with Nicholas to be Elizabeth's partner at the dance floor.
• Louisa Gansevoort Holland: The mother of Elizabeth and Diana. She had always seemed fearsome and remote, and only become harder and more intractable since her husband's death.
• Reverend Needlehouse: The priest who conducted the funeral.
• Percival Coddington: He inherited his father's estate. He was the kind of boy who avoided human contact in favor of intentionally harming small animals. He is an obsessive collector of anthropological artifacts but he is scared to ride an explorer's ship.
• Bernadine: The head servant of the Hayeses.
• Prudence "Prudie" Schoonmaker: Henry's younger sister. She fancied herself as an intellectual that's why she hardly talks to anyone and she always wears black.
• Webster Youngham: The architect of the Hayeses.
• Evelyn Archer Hayes: The mother of Penelope.
• Tristan Wrigley: Add a description of this character.
• Carey Lewis Longhorn: The oldest bachelor in New York. He is the heir to a banking fortune. He was known for a string of broken engagements in his youth, and a series of attachments to countesses and fashionable matrons in middle age, and for currently having a large collection of portraits depicting the beauties of the present day.

Quotes edit see section history

• “There was no pleasure like being envied on a mass scale.”

• “As she always did on any really important day, Penelope Hayes wore red.”

• “The headiest loves, were the loves that couldn't be.”

• “It was the old New York way...the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes," except the behavior of those who gave rise to them.”

  Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

• “Heart-stopping envy is the sincerest form of flattery.”

  Isaac Phillips Buck

• “It is well known that a man, when wooing a lady to be his wife, must first win over the females she most confides in--her friends, of course, and her sister, if she has one.”

  Mae ve de Jong, Love and Other Follies of Old New York

• “That was how this was supposed to feel. <A kiss> It was supposed to go all the way down to your toes and make them dance, just a little bit.”

  Diana Holland

• “The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of color--oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples....”

  From the Diary of Diana Holland, September 17, 1899

• “I've always believed in savoring moments. In the end, they are the only things we'll have.”

  From the Diary of Edward Holland, December 1898

• “Don't go looking for boys in the dark. They will say pretty things then leave you with scars. Do go looking for boys in the park. For that is where the true gentlemen are.”

  A Seamstress's Verses, 1898

• “It's the craziest thing, but I cannot stop thinking about you.”

  Henry Schoonmaker

• “A letter or a note that is almost as good as a real and sudden kiss.”

• “A lady must retain always her composure. Even in a rainstorm, she must appear joyous and dry. When she loses her composure, then the respect of her peers and her staff will follow in short order.”

  Van Kamp's Guide to Housekeeping for Ladies of High Society, 1899 Edition

• “Never go chasing after, always play hard to get.”

• “You'll forgive me if I keep staring at you.”

  Tristan Wrigley

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Don’t go looking for boys in the dark They will say pretty things then leave you with scars. Do go looking for boys in the park For that is where the true gentlemen are.

  Highlighted by 62 Kindle customers

• The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of color—oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples….

  Highlighted by 54 Kindle customers

• I’ve always believed in savoring the moments. In the end, they are the only things we’ll have. I hope that I have imparted this belief to my children, though it is so hard to tell when they are still stubbornly becoming themselves.

  Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers

• ––A SEAMSTRESS’S VERSES, 1898

  Highlighted by 31 Kindle customers

• Diana felt she was beginning to understand why, in all those novels she read, the headiest loves were the loves that couldn’t be.

  Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers

• Do not marry for money, Mrs. Holland had often said in happier times, just marry where money is.

  Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers

• A lady must retain always her composure. Even in a rainstorm, she must appear joyous and dry. When she loses her composure, then the respect of her peers and her staff will follow in short order.

  Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers

• It is well known that a man, when wooing a lady to be his wife, must first win over the females she most confides in—her friends, of course, and her sister, if she has one. ––MAEVE DE JONG, LOVE AND OTHER FOLLIES OF THE GREAT FAMILIES OF OLD NEW YORK

  Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers

• Newly engaged couples will always find ways to flirt with one another, but it is imperative to the health and well-being of society that they not be encouraged to do so in public. They should not be seen traveling alone through the city, especially not to the theater, and at dinner pains should be taken so that they are not seated beside one another. They will only tickle and tease each other, and that is not to be endured.

  Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers

• We see our sins reflected everywhere: in the pallor of our intimates’ faces, in the scratching of tree branches against windows, in the strange movements of everyday objects. These may be messages from God or tricks of the eye, but in neither case are we permitted to ignore them.

  Highlighted by 16 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• No. 670 Fifth Avenue: This is where the new residence and mansion of the Hayeses was located.
• Hollands' House: The family's townhouse at Gramercy Park.
• Waldorf-Astoria: A fifteen storey grand hotel in New York.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Rumors.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Anna Godbersen (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Katja Ruunaniemi (Translator) - Kääntänyt alkuperäisen englanninkielisen tekstin suomeksi.
2. Karen Pearson (Photographer) - Jacket Photo
3. Andrea C. Uva (Designer) - Jacket Design
4. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. (Publisher)

First Edition edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

There is no reason that anyone above the age of 14 should not read this book. Some parts or concepts in the book maybe difficult for young readers to grasp. There are a lot of scandalous relationships and sexual relations. Overall its a pretty clean book.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Social Issues › Being a Teen
• Books › Teens › History & Historical Fiction › Historical Fiction

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• The Luxe Official Book Site: The Books; The Cast; The Blog; Downloads; Shop; Win
• The Luxe Books by Anna Godbersen

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Luxe

More Books Like This edit see section history