Thursday, June 12, 2008

High society


It's a rare book that makes me want to sit still and keep reading and at the same time not want to finish. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets so thoroughly engulfed me in its world that I hated to let it go. To me, Eva Rice's novel feels like what would have happened if Jane Austen had been writing about 1950s England -- it's replete with society parties, courtship, beautiful country homes, and young ladies negotiating the realms of propriety. Jane Austen, of course, never imagined American socialites or the likes of Elvis Presley, but this is what might have happened if she had. The Lost Art was such a fun book, without ever feeling silly or brain-candy-esque -- Penelope and her cohorts are much to smart for that.

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