A Wife of Noble Character
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A juicy, sprawling comedy of manners about a group of thirtysomethings navigating friendship, love, and their fledgling careers among Houston’s high-powered, oil-money elite
Thirty-year-old Vivienne Cally is wealthy in name only. Orphaned as a child and raised by a cold but regal aunt, Vivienne was taught to rely on her beauty and Texas tradition, and is expected to marry a wealthy and respectable man who will honor the Cally name. Friends with Houston's richest and most prominent families, she's a beloved fixture at the social events big and small, and suffers no shortage of access to some of the city's most eligible bachelors. Preston Duffin has known Vivienne and her set since childhood. He's never shared their social aspirations or their status but is liked and respected for his sharp wit and intelligence. About to graduate from a prestigious architecture program, he is both fascinated and repelled by this group of friends he sits on the cusp of. He's long admired Vivienne's beauty and grace, but isn't sure he holds any place in such a traditional life. Intrigued by Preston's ambitions and the extent to which he challenges the only way of life she's ever known, Vivienne both courts Preston's attention, and rebuffs his critiques of her predictable and antiquated priorities and values. Inspired by Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, Yvonne Georgina Puig's A Wife of Noble Character shares the original novel’s astute social commentary at the same time that it illuminates the trappings and rewards of coming of age that are wholly unique to the twenty-first century. Charming and shrewd at once, this Texas love story takes readers from Houston to Paris and Switzerland and back again, and will speak to both fans of Wharton and anyone who has every struggled to find their way in life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Inspired by The House of Mirth, Puig's debut repositions Wharton's Gilded Age classic in modern-day Houston. There, orphaned Vivienne Cally, although the most beautiful of her set, is largely dependent on the generosity of her frenemies to maintain the appearance and lifestyle necessary to snag a wealthy husband. But Vivienne is now in her 30s, her friends are marrying off, and she's starting to harbor doubts prompted largely by her friendship with the idealistic architecture student Preston Duffin about whether she even wants to continue participating in the kind of society that values conspicuous displays of wealth above substance. Narrated alternately from Vivienne and Preston's points of view, the novel offers numerous insights into the process of arriving at adulthood, the realization that the choices made in one's 30s have real consequences and may largely define the rest of one's life. Fans of Wharton's original will likely most appreciate the ways in which Puig updates her heroine's inner conflicts to remain relevant in a present-day setting where college-educated women's fates are (at least in theory) no longer bound to their marriage prospects. Others may find the social satire thin, frequently interrupted by lengthy debates about personal integrity as well as by so-called scandals that ultimately fail to scandalize.
Customer Reviews
Amazing work, rarely put it down
I stumbled upon this book by happenstance and was beyond pleasantly surprised. The romance was engaging but not painful as many can be, as well as fresh and accompanied with the ring of reality that you start to miss after reading the romance genre for so long. It’s beyond unique, as it contains a coming of age story at an age where most wouldnt admit that youre still not sure what whats going on with the expectation that you know everything by now. Most of all I appreciated the social commentary on money and its effects, and the very real pressures of fitting in whether you have the ability to or not.
The main character Viv has some of the best character growth I’ve been blessed to read, as she starts off as an insecure yet completely genuine fraud, to grow to accepting of true self, which I took as the biggest message of her growth. Witnessing not just the change in her but the subtle life truths each page revealed was a spectacular way to open the usually closed conversation of money on either side of the tracks. This beautifully and fluidly speaks on the reality that humanity is both ugly and great, and vices of any kind are lifesavers and pain-bringers all in one.
All in all, as a well versed reader, it is one of the select few books I came out the otherside with an entirely new perspective on a world I know well (American high society, for one) and I gained compassion for each character in the book—yes even the so called villian—but most importantly, an understanding we all think we have until its put in front of our face that we don’t. I would love to see more work by this author, as its only taken one book for me to hear the strength of her message, however you interpret it.