The Graduate Book Discussion Group will take a hiatus for the month of August, as many members are planning vacations, and will resume the fourth Wednesday of September. The book selection will be a change of pace, dipping back in time to read a work by one of America's most important novelists, Edith Wharton, a refined, relentless chronicler of the Gilded Age and its social mores.
Set in the 1870's, Wharton's final novel, The Buccaneers, is about five wealthy American girls denied entry into New York Society because their parents' money is too new.  At the suggestion of their clever governess, the girls sail to London, where they marry lords, earls, and dukes who find their beauty charming  and their wealth extremely useful.

After Wharton's death in 1937, one source stated 'If it could have been completed, The Buccaneers would doubtless stand among the richest and most sophisticated of Wharton's novels.' Now, with wit and imagination, Marion Mainwaring has finished the story, taking her cue from Wharton's own synopsis.  It is a novel any Wharton fan will celebrate and any romantic reader will love.  This is the richly engaging story of Nan St. George and Guy Thwarte, an American heiress and an English aristocrat, whose love breaks the rules of both their societies.

The New York Times Book Reviews call it 'Brave, lively, engaging'.a fairy tale novel, miraculously returned to life.'

The library has numerous copies, and new copies may be purchased through Amazon by contacting Polly Clement at pollyclement@cox.net .  The good news is you have lots of time to leisurely enjoy this novel before our discussion date in September!

When: Wednesday, September 22, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Berkeley & Mike's home.
RSVP: Call Berkeley or email her. 
Cost: $3.00 for refreshments