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Description edit
Jealous whispers. Old rivalries. New betrayals. Two months after Elizabeth Holland's dramatic homecoming, Manhattan eagerly awaits her return to the pinnacle of society. When Elizabeth refuses to rejoin her sister Diana's side, however, those watching New York's favorite family... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Diana Holland is having to fill in the role of her sister at parties. She keeps avoiding any meetings with Henry, who in turn avoids sleeping with Penelope. Henry organizes a trip to Florida with Teddy to get away from Penelope, but when Penelope finds out she invites herself, Carolina and her... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- 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.The man she loves is Henry Schoonmaker, but he is currently married to Penelope Hayes Schoonmaker. Diana had given her virginity to Henry, only for him to turn around and marry Penelope, breaking her heart.
- 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.
- Penelope Hayes-Schoonmaker: 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.
- Carolina "Lina" Broad: 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.Carolina has made a name for herself out in society, and been taken under the wing of and older gentleman. After he dies unexpectedly, Carolina is forced back onto the streets to try to find a job for herself.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Edith Holland: Edward Holland's younger sister. She divorced his husband making her one of the first women to move prominently in society.
- Snowden Trapp Cairns: Edward Holland's occasional business partner and sometime fellow adventurer.He has helped the Holland family get back somewhat on their feet, helping to pay of their debts left behind by the late Mr. Holland. He knows many of the family's secrets, having been the man who presided over Elizabeth and Will's wedding. He proposes to Elizabeth after she found to be with child. But after their marriage, Elizabeth finds that he not the man that everyone thinks he is, the legitimacy of her first marriage uncertain.
- Grayson Hayes: Penelope's older brother.
- Leland Bouchard: A banking heir and one of Manhattan's bachelor.He is one of the most eligible bachelor's in Manhattan. His is a very fidgity/active person, never still for more than a moment. He has a great interest in cars, and also an interest in Carolina Broad.
- Portia Tilt: She was from out west and just recently moved to New York with her husband.
- 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.
- Madame Fitzgerald: She is a dressmaker and a store owner.
- Morris James, Esquire: He is the Chief Executor of the Longhorn Estate.
- Eleanor Wetmore: A girl in society who hopes to have an offer on her hand in marriage by the date of her younger sister's wedding.
- Lucy Carr: The wraith-like divorcee friend of Isabelle Schoonmaker.
- Isaac Phillips Buck: He is thought to have a distant relation to the old Buck clan. He is the loyal friend of Penelope. Not a beloved character in society, but is the one to hire when planning a party, aided greatly in building up the Hayes name.
- Davis Barnard: He is a gossip column writer under the pseudonym, "Gamesome Gallant." A friend of Diana's, often seen together at society gatherings. Diana uses her connections in society to bring him gossip for his column, and even publishes her own writing.
- Agnes Jones: She often claims that she was best friends with Elizabeth. She's broke and her father thrown himself at the Brooklyn bridge.
- Gemma Newbold: She is known to be Mrs. Cutting's choice for her only son, Teddy.
- Robert: Carey Lewis Longhorn's valet.
- 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.He is a con man, the one who helped Lina when she first got out from under the Holland's roof. He follows the one with the most money.
- Adelaide Wetmore: She just recently announced to the society her engagement to Reginald Newbold.
- Reginald Newbold: He just recently announced to the society his engagement to Adelaide Wetmore.
- Isabelle Schoonmaker: Before she married William Schoonmaker, Isabelle was one of the most beautiful, talked-about young socialites in the city. Becoming Henry's stepmother didn't take away any of that celebrated youth or beauty either. Why should a little thing like marriage keep Isabelle from having her fun?Grayson Hayes has caught her interest, and she still flirts with all the young men, though she is married.
- 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.
- William Sackhouse Schoonmaker: The father of Henry Schoonmaker. Patriarch of the Old Schoonmaker clan and who had made a second fortune in railroads.
- Cathy: Carolina Broad's personal maid for the Florida trip.
- 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.
- Webster Youngham: The architect of the Hayeses.
- Alice Cutting: Teddy's younger sister who was fair like him and with the same gray eyes.
- Julia Cutting: One of Teddy's sisters.
- Mrs. Cutting: The mother of Teddy.
- Abelard Gore: He is the husband of Mrs. Gore.
- 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.
- Lispenard Bradley: A famous painter.
- Richmond Hayes: The father of Penelope.
- Evelyn Archer Hayes: The mother of Penelope.
- Mr. Cullen: The diminutive clerk at New Netherland hotel.
Quotes edit
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“It is difficult for the once poor to ever play truly rich. But this is a city full of those who will try.”
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“One had to move on, and when one did one discovered ever more new and wonderful things.”
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“He would lead her into a waltz that would draw her across the floor and into his heart forever.”
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“The way he looked at her that made her want to crawl into his arms and stay there forever.”
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“A young lady's most natural ally is her sister, although sometimes our own relatives are as inscrutable to us as an antipodean.”
Maeve de Jong, Love and Other Follies of the Great Families of Old New York -
“It's only that you seem so delicate after your...trials, and one always wants to protect you.”
Teddy Cutting -
“The best heroines took their fate into their own hands.”
Diana Holland -
“Diana Holland: What do you want? | Henry Schoonmaker: To be with you. Just for a minute.”
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“I can't be without you.”
Henry Schoonmaker -
“I hope to become an officer to see action in the Philippines. I've already written to my father's contacts at Fort Hamilton, and hope to enlist as soon as I return to New York. I can't wait for tomorrow--I'm going to leave tonight, after dinner.”
Teddy Cutting -
“Grayson Hayes: Well because you are beautiful and curious and because you like to go places and feel life. Because I feel free with you, and unbound from all the stupid constraints of my dull self. | Diana Holland: Oh. Do you think you'll go on feeling those things? | Grayson Hayes: I can't imagine stopping.”
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Life was a short window, and there was no sense in doing the wrong thing over and over even if it was so difficult to stop.
Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers -
The world was such a marvel—it gave you trials, but if you were still and concentrated, if you tried to do the right thing, it always provided you with salvation.
Highlighted by 31 Kindle customers -
To look in the face of hard things and keep moving forward—that’s what one has to do.”
Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers -
A man is made in the rough-and-tumble of the world; a lady emerges from the flossy back rooms of her own imagination.
Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers -
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there will always be a gentleman to dance with, except at just the moment when you require one most.
Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers -
She was like a heroine in a novel that she herself was writing; the character kept protesting that she was too strong for love, and yet the narrator went on describing her desire.
Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers -
it seems to me that looking in the face of hard things and still being able to move forward, even when the end includes grave danger and the possibility of death, is the mark of a man.
Highlighted by 22 Kindle customers -
The time had passed for making promises to her—all that was left for him was to act.
Highlighted by 22 Kindle customers -
the best heroines, she’d always believed, took their fate into their own hands.
Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers -
Always stay sharp on railways and cruise ships, for transit has a way of making everything clear.
Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
New York & Florida
- 18 East 63rd Street: This is where the house of Leland Bouchard is located. He built it with his own money through his investments at the age of 20.
- Sherry's: A restaurant at Fifth Avenue and Forty-fifth street.
- Royal Poinciana: A hotel in Palm each, Florida. It is a great lemon yellow wood structure with white trimming sitting between Lake Worth and the sea.
- The Schoonmakers' House: The family's limestone mansion at Fifth Avenue.
- 17 Gramercy Park: The Holland's House in Manhattan
- No. 670 Fifth Avenue: This is where the new residence and mansion of the Hayeses was located.
- New Netherland: A seedy hotel on Twenty-sixth Street.
- Madame Fitzgerald's: It is a dress shop.
- The Dover: It is a cream-colored building off the park in the mid-seventies and its apartments contained parlors and libraries and maid's quarters. There were elevators and laundry chutes on every floor, and the whole place gleamed with its brand-new modernity.
First Sentence edit
FOR A CERTAIN KIND OF NEW YORK GIRL, EVERYTHING, must be always in its place.
Table of Contents edit
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thiety-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Authors & Contributors edit
- Anna Godbersen (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: HarperCollins
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: January 27, 2009
ISBN: 978-0061345722
Page Count: 416
Publisher: HarperCollins
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: January 27, 2009
ISBN: 978-0061345722
Page Count: 416
Subjects edit
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- The Luxe Official Book Site: The Books; The Cast; The Blog; Downloads; Shop; Win
- The Luxe Books by Anna Godbersen
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