First published 2007
A teacher at an exclusive girls' school sits in his classroom, considering the years he has spent observing the daughters of New York's elite. He has watched generations of students pass through these halls, each carrying the weight of family expectations and social position. The girls arrive with their carefully constructed facades, but he has learned to see beyond the polished surfaces to the struggles underneath. In "The Country Cousin," family members gather for what appears to be a routine social occasion, but beneath their practiced civility lie secrets that threaten to surface. These six previously unpublished stories explore the private moments when the wealthy drop their guards. Auchincloss reveals the cost of maintaining appearances in a world where reputation matters more than truth, and where even the most privileged lives contain profound loneliness.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, slice-of-life
Setting: New York
Period: 20th-century
212 pages · Hardcover · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt