Rumors (2008) (edit title/settings)

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• Elizabeth Adora Holland: Only eighteen and Elizabeth knows exactly where her place in society is—at the top. She's flawlessly behaved and unwaveringly polite. She's pure in every way. Well, every way but one. Beneath her elegant facade hides a deep desire that Elizabeth will go to great lengths to conceal. She is the eldest daughter of the late Mr. Edward Holland and his widow, Louisa Gansevoort Holland.
• Diana Holland: At sixteen, Diana is aching to break free of the constrained society girl role that her sister plays so well. She's just as lovely, but twice as romantic, rebellious and curious. Diana's greatest disappointment will be finding out that the one thing she wants already belongs to someone else, but that certainly won't stop her from going after it.
• Penelope Hayes: With her dramatic nose and full lips, eighteen-year-old Penelope is often derided for being a little too much—not that Penelope cares. She's beautiful and brash and she isn't the slightest bit concerned that her money is a smidgen younger than that of her high society peers. Wealth is wealth, and Penelope will use hers to claim everything and everyone she wants. She was usually said to be Elizabeth's true best friend.
• Henry Schoonmaker: The consummate playboy, twenty-year-old Henry has been linked to several debutantes, English ladies, and even a few actresses (or so the society pages say). Penelope is rumored to be one of his latest conquests, and it appears he's been linked to Elizabeth, too. There is a line of debutantes hoping to be next. How long before Diana catches his eye? He is the only son of William Schoonmaker.
• Carolina "Lina" Broud: By seventeen, Lina should know that she was born to serve. The trouble is there's a chip on her shoulder, a burning crush in her heart, and she's convinced she was made for better things than being Elizabeth Holland's maid. The one advantage of her station in life is that Lina can keep her enemies close. She may clean the Holland's home, but she also lives and eavesdrops among them.
• William Thomas Keller: As the Holland family's carriage boy, Will was raised in the bosom of Elizabeth's wealthy family. As children, the two would play together happily, with Lina by their side—three best friends with no regard for society's rules. As they grew older, Elizabeth assumed her rightful place among Manhattan's elite, but the carriage boy still occupies a special place in her heart.
• Claire Broud: Claire is Lina's older and more rational sister. Claire has been working for the Hollands her entire life, and is Diana's personal servant. She is simple and in awe in front of the family she serves.
• Teddy Cutting: Henry's loyal best friend Teddy has had a crush on Elizabeth Holland for longer than he can remember. He's watched with amusement as Henry flirted with half of Manhattan, but there's no way he'll let his friend's wandering eye hurt the Holland family. That is, if he has a say in what the Schoonmaker family has planned. 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.
• Tristan Wrigley: A young and handsome salesman at Lord & Taylor department store who charms the upper class ladies, not only as a job requirement but he also has his own reasons for doing so.
• Edith Holland: Edward Holland's younger sister. She divorced his husband making her one of the first women to move prominently in society.
• 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.
• Snowden Trapp Cairns: Edward Holland's occasional business partner and sometime fellow adventurer.
• Grayson Hayes: Penelope's older brother.
• Lucy Carr: The wraith-like divorcee friend of Isabelle Schoonmaker.
• Robert: Carey Lewis Longhorn's valet.
• Isaac Phillips Buck: He has a distant relation to the old Buck clan. He is the loyal friend of Penelope.
• Mrs. Gore: She is formerly known as Lily Newburg. She is helping his brother to find a new wife for him to move on and live happily.
• Davis Barnard: He is a gossip column writer under the pseudonym, "Gamesome Gallant."
• Denny Planck: Will's partner in business.
• Mr. Newburg: He is the brother of Mrs. Gore. His wife met a tragic death.
• 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.
• Mrs. Astor: She is called the queen of New York City. But because of her ill health, rumor has it that she was ready to abdicate her throne.
• Harry Lehr: A winning bachelor known for his flare in leading cotillions and issuing bons mots.
• William Sackhouse Schoonmaker: The father of Henry Schoonmaker. Patriarch of the Old Schoonmaker clan and who had made a second fortune in railroads.
• Cornelius "Neily" Vanderbilt: One of Manhattan's bachelors. He belongs to a rich and known family.
• Grace Wilson: She is the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt who as a debutante, was considered too "fast" and had nearly caused her husband to be disinherited.
• Alice Cutting: Teddy's younger sister who was fair like him and with the same gray eyes.
• 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.
• Webster Youngham: The architect of the Hayeses.
• Ogden: Penelope's grandfather who never bothered learning the table manners of the Manhattan upper class despite his lifelong effort to join it.
• Richmond Hayes: The father of Penelope.
• Evelyn Archer Hayes: The mother of Penelope.
• Amos Vreewold: One of Manhattan's bachelors. He often competed with Nicholas to be Elizabeth's partner at the dance floor.
• Lispenard Bradley: A famous painter.
• Agnes Jones: She often claims that she was best friends with Elizabeth. She's broke and her father thrown himself at the Brooklyn bridge.
• Rathmill: The Hayeses' butler.
• Lydia Vreewold: A friend of Isabelle Schoonmaker who is of the same age and beauty.
• James De Ford: Isabelle Schoonmaker's brother.
• Florence Cutting: Teddy's older sister.
• Mr. Landry: A florist.
• Leland Bouchard: A banking heir and one of Manhattan's bachelor.
• 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.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Diana knew it wouldn't be right, but then she told herself that things only looked wrong when there was someone to see you.”

• “You just like me chasing after you, don't you?”

  Will Keller

• “Be careful of the tragic fall at the end, though--anyone who rises too quickly is supposed to get one.”

  Diana Holland

• “Of course a girl may have multiple beaux, but she should not appear to have too many and should be careful what she promises them. She will have to be especially careful of appearances when she is older and can no longer explain away her behavior as naivete. And of course she should be considerate, and make sure that two beaux do not meet.”

  From the "Debutante" Column, Dress Magazine, December 1899

• “Imaginary kisses were nothing compared to the real thing.”

• “Love. It left you always unsteady on your feet.”

• “Nothing good ever comes of separating lovers.”

  Edith Holland

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• While our good girls toss and they turn— They lay awake for those who will burn.

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• Good girls hold their heads high by daylight, Their grace and their virtue soaring with kites, While bad girls slink along in their shame— Everyone stares at them, everyone blames. But those bad girls sleep soundly at night, Ne’er do their consciences wake them in a fright,

  Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers

• So this was how life was, she thought with a faint smile: It wore you down until you emerged at its wildest, most unexpected ends.

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• That was the way love was, she guessed—it left you always unsteady on your feet.

  Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers

• “I love you.” He said it simply, quietly. He didn’t say those words as she had imagined them said so many times by characters in novels. He didn’t say them with desperation, with pleading, with futile rage or florid persuasion. He spoke without lasciviousness; he spoke only with the intention of being understood.

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

• The pearls were cold against her skin, and the clasp made a sound of sick finality as it snapped shut.

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

• So this was betrayal. It was like being left alone in the desert at dusk without water or warmth. It left your mouth dry and your will broken. It sapped your tears and made you hollow.

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• There are those girls who will choose friends only for the other girl’s brothers. One must be chary of such friends, but one cannot avoid them entirely—it is, after all, a very useful tactic that your daughter may someday rightfully employ.

  Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers

• She felt so much aware of her own beauty, it seemed inconceivable that everybody else wouldn’t notice the difference, too.

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• Living too much in one’s head can be dangerous, her father had liked to tell her.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Teddy's lunchroom: It was clean and bright, with a floor of small white octagonal tiles and convex mirrors lining the walls.
• New Netherland: A seedy hotel on Twenty-sixth Street.
• 155 EastSixteenth Street: This is where Davis Barnard lives.
• Schoonmakers' House: The family's limestone mansion at Fifth Avenue.
• 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.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Theme: One of the themes of this book, and this whole series, is that money is everything. Because the characters are in a time of great splendor and glamour, money is the only thing that allows the "in crowd" to maintain their status.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Luxe, and followed by Envy.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Anna Godbersen (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Karen Pearson (Photographer) - Jacket Photo
2. Andrea C. Uva (Designer) - Jacket Design
3. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc (Publisher)

First Edition edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

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

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history