The Post Debutante, By Herman Franck, Esq., is a psychological thriller/murder mystery set in high society San Francisco, present day. Nothing wakes up a debutante like a murder charge. Nancy Sheridon is a high society San Francisco woman whose perfect wedding plans fall apart, as does she, when her fiancée falls in love with a newly arrived prima ballerina of the San Francisco Ballet. Later, the ballerina is found dead, apparently at the hands of her fiancé, George Anton. After DNA evidence exonerates George and points the police to Nancy, she is charged with the murder. She learns the hard lessons of the loneliness of injustice, and how injustices can challenge all trusts, even the trust between parent and child. She also learns a lesson she didn’t know she already knew, that was is lovely and wealthy on the outside is not necessarily lovely and wealthy on the inside.

A Smithsonian Best History Book of 2019 In this enthralling history of the debutante ritual, Kristen Richardson sheds new light on contemporary ideas about women and marriage. Kristen Richardson, from a family of debutantes, chose not to debut. But as her curiosity drove her to research this enduring custom, she learned that it, and debutantes, are not as simple as they seem. The story begins in England six hundred years ago when wealthy fathers needed an efficient way to find appropriate husbands for their daughters. Elizabeth I’s exclusive presentations at her court expanded into London’s full season of dances, dinners, and courting, extending eventually to the many corners of the British empire and beyond. Richardson traces the social seasons of young women on both sides of the Atlantic, from Georgian England to colonial Philadelphia, from the Antebellum South and Wharton’s New York back to England, where debutante daughters of Gilded Age millionaires sought to marry British aristocrats. She delves into Jazz Age debuts, carnival balls in the American South, and the reimagined ritual of elite African American communities, which offers both social polish and academic scholarships. The Season shares the captivating stories of these young women, often through their words from diaries, letters, and interviews that Richardson conducted at contemporary balls. The debutantes give voice to an array of complex feelings about being put on display, about the young men they meet, and about what their future in society or as wives might be. While exploring why the debutante tradition persists—and why it has spread to Russia, China, and other nations—Richardson has uncovered its extensive cultural influence on the lives of daughters in Britain and the US and how they have come to marry.

The social debut and its offshoots--the high school prom, the sorority presentation, beauty pageants--continue to emphasize celebrity, class, and community. But why does this peculiar tradition persist? In "Debutante," Marling demystifies debdom and the "long-term American hankering after the trappings of royalty."

Amidst the glamour of high society, a tawdry secret will change Lily’s life forever... 1958. The last year debutantes will be presented at court to the young Queen Elizabeth and officially come out into society. To appease her traditional mother, aspiring university student Lily Nicholls agrees to debut and do the Season – a glittering and gruelling string of endless balls and cocktail parties. There she befriends two women: aloof Leana Hartford, whose apparent perfection hides a darker side, and ambitious Katherine Norman, who dreams of a career after helping her parents find their place among the elite. But the sparkle of the Season dims when Lily learns a devastating secret that threatens to destroy her entire family. Faced with a murky past, what will she choose for her future: her family legacy, or her own, uncertain happiness? A fast-paced and compelling historical novel for fans of Kate Morton and The Crown. Praise for The Last Dance of the Debutante "Between the crinkling of crinolines and the popping of champagne corks, Last Dance of the Debutante leads us on a glorious dance through the traditional glamour and suffocating expectations of a bygone era." Genevieve Graham, bestselling author of Letters across the Sea "Julia Kelly elegantly brings to life the last official presentation of debutantes at court with her exquisitely researched and beautiful written detail. This story was so decadent, I wanted to don silk and crinoline and read it with a glass of champagne." Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London "Refreshing, intriguing, oozing with elegance, and with three female leads who will keep you thoroughly engrossed, a charming gem of a novel which will delight fans of The Crown." Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter "An insightful and engaging look at this neglected subject ... an unforgettable journey of a young woman's liberation." Piper Huguley, author of By Design: the story of Ann Lowe, Society's Best-Kept Secret "Peels back layers of lush glamour and the extraordinary expectations of the London Season to give us a glimpse into a world teetering on the brink of change and the choices facing those who navigated it. Woven with heartfelt emotion, this novel is a captivating, unforgettable story of one woman's journey to find love, truth, and, most importantly, herself." Kelly Bowen, author of The Paris Apartment "Kelly's descriptions of the glamorous, though long nights, are captivating. The pressure these young women feel to impress and make the right match is exhausting, and Kelly evokes compassion for her characters. The story is full of allure, society scandals, and the determination for these young women to eschew the dying traditions of the time." Booklist "The engrossing narrative dishes out the right amount of tension while moving the plot forward at a satisfying pace... Kelly succeeds at bringing a bygone world to life." Publishers Weekly

NAMED ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS A visionary novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story and Little Failure. The Russian Debutante's Handbook introduces Vladimir Girshkin, one of the most original and unlikely heroes of recent times. The twenty-five-year-old unhappy lover to a fat dungeon mistress, affectionately nicknamed "Little Failure" by his high-achieving mother, Vladimir toils his days away as a lowly clerk at the bureaucratic Emma Lazarus Immigrant Absorption Society. When a wealthy but psychotic old Russian war hero appears, Vladimir embarks on an adventure of unrelenting lunacy that takes us from New York's Lower East Side to the hip frontier wilderness of Prava--the Eastern European Paris of the nineties. With the help of a murderous but fun-loving Russian mafioso, Vladimir infiltrates the Prava expat community and launches a scheme as ridiculous as it is brilliant. Bursting with wit, humor, and rare insight, The Russian Debutante's Handbook is both a highly imaginative romp and a serious exploration of what it means to be an immigrant in America.

Fans of The Kennedy Debutante and Next Year in Havana will love Georgie Blalock’s new novel of a world on the cusp of change...set on the eve of World War II in the glittering world of English society and one of the last debutante seasons. They danced the night away, knowing their world was about to change forever. They were the debutantes of 1939, laughing on the outside, but knowing tragedy— and a war—was just around the corner. When Valerie de Vere Cole, the niece of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, makes her deep curtsey to the King and Queen of England, she knows she’s part of a world about to end. The daughter of a debt-ridden father and a neglectful mother, Valerie sees firsthand that war is imminent. Nevertheless, Valerie reinvents herself as a carefree and glittering young society woman, befriending other debutantes from England’s aristocracy as well as the vivacious Eunice Kennedy, daughter of the U.S. Ambassador. Despite her social success, the world’s troubles and Valerie’s fear of loss and loneliness prove impossible to ignore. How will she navigate her new life when everything in her past has taught her that happiness and stability are as fragile as peace in our time? For the moment she will forget her cares in too much champagne and waltzes. Because very soon, Valerie knows that she must find the inner strength to stand strong and carry on through the challenges of life and love and war.

The delicious New York Times bestselling follow up to Bergdorf Blondes, a chic and witty tale of marriage, friendship, and divorce, that moves from New York to London, the Alps to Moscow, now back in print in a gorgeous, eye-catching package. Newly married Sylvie Mortimer has found bliss with her Divine New Husband, Hunter. But her perfect Town & Country life is about to be rocked by a divine and dangerous predator—her new friend, the very rich, very young, very thin, very pretty, and very divorced Lauren Blount. New York’s most reckless and glamorous Debutante Divorcee, Lauren is also the city’s most eager Husband Huntress. And now she’s got her sights on a new man: Sylvie’s Divine New Husband. . . .

“A riveting reimagining of a true tale of forbidden love.”—People The captivating novel following the exploits of Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, the forgotten and rebellious daughter of one of America's greatest political dynasties. London, 1938. The effervescent "It girl" of London society since her father was named the ambassador, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy moves in rarefied circles, rubbing satin-covered elbows with some of the twentieth century's most powerful figures. Eager to escape the watchful eye of her strict mother, Rose; the antics of her older brothers, Jack and Joe; and the erratic behavior of her sister Rosemary, Kick is ready to strike out on her own and is soon swept off her feet by Billy Hartington, the future Duke of Devonshire. But their love is forbidden, as Kick's devout Catholic family and Billy's staunchly Protestant one would never approve their match. And when war breaks like a tidal wave across her world, Billy is ripped from her arms as the Kennedys are forced to return to the States. Kick finds work as a journalist and joins the Red Cross to get back to England, where she will have to decide where her true loyalties lie—with family or with love....

In an engaging book that sweeps from the Gilded Age to the 1960s, award-winning author Laura Claridge presents the first authoritative biography of Emily Post, who changed the mindset of millions of Americans with Etiquette, a perennial bestseller and touchstone of proper behavior. A daughter of high society and one of Manhattan’s most sought-after debutantes, Emily Price married financier Edwin Post. It was a hopeful union that ended in scandalous divorce. But the trauma forced Emily Post to become her own person. After writing novels for fifteen years, Emily took on a different sort of project. When it debuted in 1922, Etiquette represented a fifty-year-old woman at her wisest–and a country at its wildest. Claridge addresses the secret of Etiquette’s tremendous success and gives us a panoramic view of the culture from which it took its shape, as its author meticulously updated her book twice a decade to keep it consistent with America’s constantly changing social landscape. Now, nearly fifty years after Emily Post’s death, we still feel her enormous influence on how we think Best Society should behave.

No one is quite who they seem to be in the twisty, soapy, gasp-inducing world of the Debutantes by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #1 bestselling author of The Inheritance Games. Think of the White Gloves like the Junior League— by way of Skull and Bones. Reluctant debutante Sawyer Taft joined Southern high society for one reason and one reason alone: to identify and locate her biological father. But the answers Sawyer found during her debutante year only left her with more questions and one potentially life-ruining secret. When her cousin Lily ropes her into pledging a mysterious, elite, and all-female secret society called the White Gloves, Sawyer soon discovers that someone in the group's ranks may have the answers she's looking for. Things are looking up . . . until Sawyer and the White Gloves make a disturbing discovery near the family's summer home—and uncover a twisted secret, decades in the making. ** Check out Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s bestselling The Naturals and Inheritance Games series!!