The Lady of Situations - Hardcover

Auchincloss, Louis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395544114 ISBN 13: 9780395544112

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1990

Synopsis

Armed with only her wits and determination, Natica Chauncey, the daughter of a ruined financier, must succeed in the cutthroat society into which she was born--New England prep schools, Hudson Valley estates, and New York drawing rooms

About this title

About the Author:

Louis Auchincloss was honored in the year 2000 as a "Living Landmark" by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. He has written more than sixty books, including the story collection Manhattan Monologues and the novel The Rector of Justin. The president of the Academy of Arts and Letters, he resides in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly:

In his 43rd book, Auchincloss again picks up where Wharton and James left off, with another stylish, tasteful novel of manners focusing on the moneyed Establishment. The daughter of a financier ruined in the Depression, Natica Chauncey is hungry for the social status her family has lost. She turns entrapping "situations" to her advantage, three times marrying men she uses for self-advancement and refusing the idle female existence prescribed by society. Auchincloss's hallmark skills are evident here: meticulous prose, colorful depictions of idiosyncratic personalities, intelligent treatment of women's changing roles and descriptions of subtle intricacies of social climbing. But his characters' very lack of depth robs them of the reader's sympathy. Natica's manipulations may be "the needed armor of a brilliant woman in a man's world" but, combined with her emotional thinness, they render her rather unappealing. The most profoundly drawn character, headmaster Rufus Lockwood, owes much of his vivid personality to literary predecessor Frank Prescott of The Rector of Justin. Still, Auchincloss's portrayal of the bonds and battles between the sexes and the ethics of loyalty and responsibility result in an acute study in human motivation.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0395544114
• ISBN 13: 9780395544112
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 274