Summary
Summary
From the acclaimed writer of Private Altars , comes a story of driving lyrical force set in Manhattan in the 1950s. When he is expelled from boarding school, Gabriel Gibbs is sent to live with his older brother Spencer in New York. Rather than a punishment, this becomes an exhilarating invitation to a dazzling world, from smoking cigars at the Plaza Hotel to weekend house parties filled with tennis and cocktails. It is in this heady atmosphere -- from white-gloved Park Avenue to literary Greenwich Village -- that Gabriel first glimpses the elusive Lillian Dawes. Free-spirited and mysterious, Lillian captures the imaginations of those in "all the best circles," including both brothers. As their lives entwine, so begins the powerful and poignant unraveling of innocence.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Mosby's sensuous, lyrical prose, highly praised in her debut novel, Private Altars, is the saving grace of her second book, which turns out to be a contrived and inflated story that's long on atmosphere but short on credibility. The Gibbs brothers, Spencer and Gabriel, are scions of a humorless, oppressive blueblood family that takes snobbism to new extremes. Now orphans, the siblings have rebelled against their straightlaced relatives, and when 17-year-old Gabriel is expelled from boarding school, he moves in with his older brother in a seedy apartment in lower Manhattan. It's the 1950s, and a halcyon time for those in high society. Indeed, the rich are "shamelessly selfindulgent," while such humble figures as a men's room attendant and an elderly shoeshine "boy" show true nobility. While Spencer labors on a book of short stories, the preternaturally observant Gabriel wanders about New York, where one day he gets a glimpse of the tantalizingly mysterious Lillian Dawes, a beautiful woman in her 20s. Lillian is radiant and kind, and although Gabriel discovers that she uses several names and refuses to speak about her past, his adolescent crush grows acute after he and Spencer attend a Gatsbyesque house party where Gabriel becomes the unlikely confidant of several of the guests, including Lillian. When Spencer and Lillian fall in love, the course of Gabriel's loss of innocence begins. Mosby works too hard at making Lillian enchanting and multitalented and Gabriel presciently ubiquitous, and at portraying the rich as caricatures (one eccentric character takes her own heavy silverware to good restaurants, lest the house flatware not have the right weight). The melodramatic denouement, clumsily foreshadowed from the beginning, moves the book into the realm of overheated romantic fiction. That's too bad, because Mosby's elegant, poetic prose is as smooth and shimmering as velvet. One hopes she can create a more credible plot next time. 5-city author tour. (Apr. 7) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Mosby's novel is the tale of two brothers and the woman they both love, set in the posh world of New York in the 1950s. At 17, Gabriel Gibbs is expelled from boarding school and sent to live with his older brother, Spencer. Gabriel is ecstatic and aimlessly wanders around Manhattan, while Spencer spends his time writing and searching for the granddaughter of a man their father swindled. Gabriel finally finds a purpose when he falls in love at first sight with Lillian Dawes, a young woman with a mysterious past who moves in elite social circles. Desperate to get to know Lillian, Gabriel convinces Spencer to go with him for a weekend at a wealthy friend's mansion where he knows Lillian will be. Though Gabriel does get to spend time with Lillian, she also meets Spencer, and the two are drawn to each other. When they return to Manhattan, a friendship develops between Gabriel and Lillian, while the attraction between Spencer and Lillian grows. Mosby's rich, elegant writing makes this novel memorable. Kristine Huntley.
Library Journal Review
This second novel by the author of Private Altars offers a familiar mix of plot and character elements while drawing readers in with its poetic lyricism and clever details. The book takes us to 1950s New York, where narrator Gabriel Gibbs, a somewhat shallow 17-year-old orphan, is taken in by his older brother, Spencer, after finally being thrown out of boarding school. Though they come from some means, Spencer, a responsible, brainy writer, puts his brother and himself on an austerity program while seeking to track down any heirs of the man from whom their late attorney father embezzled. Wealthy aunts and friends, pampered pets, and a mildly glittering social life, replete with lunches at the Plaza and weekend house parties at country estates, paint a backdrop for the arrival of Lillian Dawes, a bewitching enigma who captivates both brothers with her shabby elegance, anagrammatic cloak of identity, and tragic secrets. Inevitably, the clash of hidden truths, deceit, and wrongs to be righted shatters the brothers' peace. Mosby's New York City will appeal to fans of mannered novels The Great Gatsby comes to mind and her second effort is recommended for general fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/01.] Beth E. Andersen, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.