To
Bond and Edith Thomas
as a Record of Our Friendship
About This Book
A domestic comedy of manners about mothers, daughters, and social maneuvering in a close-knit society. An older woman frets that a wealthy, proud young woman attracts and rebuffs suitors, unintentionally eclipsing the marriage prospects of her own daughters; she and a friend contemplate discreet matchmaking and recruit others to influence events. Their interventions produce misunderstandings and reveal tensions between personal feeling and social ambition. Through scenes of polite conversation and implied scheming, the narrative probes money, reputation, and the small hypocrisies of courtship, portraying how good intentions, secrecy, and social custom can complicate human relations.