The moneyed elite have gathered at their summer home to celebrate a marriage. Daphne, daughter of Winn and Biddy is marrying Grayson. Daphne and Grayson are both graduates of excellent schools. Daphne is 7 months pregnant, but that's okay nowadays although Winn is feeling a bit uncomfortable about this. (At one point he asks rather plaintively if two college educated young people didn't know how to use birth control. His wife says that Daphne probably wanted a baby.) Winn is disappointed that both of his children were girls. Livia, the youngest, had had an abortion after the boy she thought was the love of her young life broke up with her. Now she is a bridesmaid at her sister's wedding along with Daphne's girlfriends: Agatha, Piper, & Dominique.



Winn has lusted after Agatha for a while, but has kept a discreet distance. In a lesser drama, Winn is also lusting after a membership in the Pequod, a private club on the island where Winn's and Biddy's summer home is located. He can SEE it from his house, but they won't let him in. The incestuous relationships going back in time among these wealthy semi-old money people is really interesting and funny.



Two grandmothers named Oatsie & Mopsy-really? Oatsie is so fond of bloody mary's, that she brings two canvas bags with thermoses of her favorite bloody mary with her own secret recipe that nobody gets until her death. One of the groom's brothers comes for the wedding weekend, wearing red pants with whales embroidered on them. Another is wearing seersucker pants which he describes as "ironic."



Winn's memories are interjected throughout. I was especially fond of the scene he replays in his mind of having breakfast with his older daughter, Daphne. She comes down to the breakfast table in a tulle skirt. He asks her if she has dance class. She tells him that it was something she just "threw on." Then she asks him if she is a princess. He doesn't WANT a princess. He really wanted a BOY after all. He tries to discourage her but she is persistent until he finally agrees that, yes, she is a princess and, is, in fact HIS princess. But that's not enough. Now she wants him to tell her that she is also a FAIRY princess.



There's some crackling dialogue here: "The clink-clink you hear that lets you know she's coming- it's like the shark music in Jaws." (Describing Celeste, one of Daphne and Livia's aunts) "Maude went on gabbling to Winn as if he were a talk show host."



I found myself both riveted and disgusted by these people especially Winn and his fixation with clubs: whether it's the present day Pequod golf course, his present memberships in several clubs, not to mention his obsession with club membership at Harvard.



There is a scene in which we learn about Winn's relationship with a man who is the father of the man who abandoned his younger daughter when she discovered she was pregnant. A group of privileged young men-Winn among them- are talking about who should go to Vietnam.



Pretty much all but one (the future father of Livia's boyfriend) believe they should be immune from fighting because they are important to capitalism. One of them says bluntly "Rich man's war. Poor man's fight." Winn doesn't care a bit about the song "Fortunate Son" which they say was about David Eisenhower. They think David Eisenhower is "all right." The book really isn't about this. This scene resonated with me. What was true then,was true now.Two reviews I read don't mention this scene at all.



Ms. Shipstead is a talented writer. I'm looking forward to her next novel.