A Certain Age
As the freedom of the Jazz Age transforms New York City, the iridescent Mrs. Theresa Marshall of Fifth Avenue and Southampton, Long Island, has done the unthinkable: she’s fallen in love with her young paramour, Captain Octavian Rofrano, a handsome aviator and hero of the Great War. An intense and deeply honorable man, Octavian is devoted to the beautiful socialite of a certain age and wants to marry her. While times are changing and she does adore the Boy, divorce for a woman of Theresa’s wealth and social standing is out of the question, and there is no need; she has an understanding with Sylvo, her generous and well-respected philanderer husband.
But their relationship subtly shifts when her bachelor brother, Ox, decides to tie the knot with the sweet younger daughter of a newly wealthy inventor. Engaging a longstanding family tradition, Theresa enlists the Boy to act as her brother’s cavalier, presenting the family’s diamond rose ring to Ox’s intended, Miss Sophie Fortescue—and to check into the background of the little-known Fortescue family. When Octavian meets Sophie, he falls under the spell of the pretty ingĂ©nue, even as he uncovers a shocking family secret. As the love triangle of Theresa, Octavian, and Sophie progresses, it transforms into a saga of divided loyalties, dangerous revelations, and surprising twists that will lead to a shocking transgression . . . and eventually force Theresa to make a bittersweet choice.
Full of the glamour, wit and delicious twists that are the hallmarks of Beatriz Williams’ fiction and alternating between Sophie’s spirited voice and Theresa’s vibrant timbre, A Certain Age is a beguiling reinterpretation of Richard Strauss’s comic opera Der Rosenkavalier, set against the sweeping decadence of Gatsby’s New York.
My Review:
Another stellar book by Beatriz Williams. Again, for the same reasons I've so loved all of her other books - the dialog is brilliant, the characters are smart, the female protagonists are strong and well-rounded (there is always something you love and something you don't love so much about them), and of course the plot and the plot twists are nothing short of spectacular. Once again there are elements from her other books in this one. So, if you are a fan of her writing as I am, you'll be happy to hear some familiar names - Julie Schuyler. If my memory serves me right, she is also in A Hundred Summers along with Christina Dane who also makes a brief party appearance in A Certain Age.
I just love the NY
elite in this book and their connections to each of B. Williams' books.
By the way, if you too are a fan, if you go to Beatriz Williams' author site, you will find the Schuyler Family tree and how each character is connected and where they can be found in each story.
This is, as the synopsis states, a story of the roaring twenties. There is enough drama to include murder, a cover up, an unsolved crime and an elicit affair to hook you right from the beginning to the very unexpected twist at the very end.
This is, as the synopsis states, a story of the roaring twenties. There is enough drama to include murder, a cover up, an unsolved crime and an elicit affair to hook you right from the beginning to the very unexpected twist at the very end.
Delightful and indulgent reading if
you ask me. This is B. Williams' version of Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. Beatriz Williams' just doesn't miss the mark!
