First published 2021
Sonia Marburg grows up in a small village outside Boston with an absent father and a mentally ill mother. She spends her days dreaming of the elegant mansions and refined lives of Beacon Hill's wealthy residents. When a rich Bostonian takes her under wing as a protégée, Sonia finally gains entry to the world she has always imagined. She leaves behind her impoverished childhood and steps into drawing rooms filled with crystal and conversation. But the glittering surface of her new life begins to crack. The wealthy families she once idealized reveal themselves as hollow and morally corrupt. Their privilege masks spiritual emptiness and social decay. Sonia discovers that the society she fought so hard to join offers beauty without substance, luxury without meaning. Her escape from poverty becomes a confrontation with a different kind of emptiness.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, social-commentary
Setting: Beacon Hill, Boston
Period: 20th-century
528 pages · Paperback · NYRB Classics
Content warnings: mental-illness