The Friend of Women and Other Stories
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Short fiction examining the mysteries of human character, from a New York Times–bestselling author acclaimed as “among the best in American literature” (Kirkus Reviews).
In the title story, a teacher at a private girls’ school ruminates on a long career, wondering if he was right to encourage his students to find a life less constrained than the conventional one prescribed to them—or if he cruelly raised unrealistic expectations. In “The Country Cousin,” a delightful one-act play, a wealthy woman’s dependent niece unwittingly serves as the vehicle that reveals her rich relatives’ self-involvement. Ranging from a boyhood friendship tested by the fabrications of the McCarthy era to an Episcopal priest tormented by an autocratic headmaster, Louis Auchincloss’s fiction illuminates the complications that ensue when our perceptions of other people’s natures—as well as our own—are upended.
Praised by the Los Angeles Times as a writer “committed to examining the complicated layers of character, psychology, and society,” Louis Auchincloss presents a treasure trove of short fiction that showcases both his insight and his literary talent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's easy to understand why the prolific Auchincloss (East Side Story) has been hailed as a "Living Landmark," writing as he does about a mannered New York of bygone days. His latest book, a collection of six stories, doesn't stray from this familiar, still fertile ground, with mixed results. The title story's narrator, a retired English teacher from a tony Manhattan school for "young ladies," recalls his three favorite pupils (class of 1937); in detailing his involvement in their lives as they grow into adulthood, marriage and motherhood, he reveals just how far he will go to remain a confidant and friend. A New England prep school provides the setting for a contest of wills between a young priest and a tyrannical headmaster in "The Devil and Rufus Lockwood," and a different clash of personalities is on display in "The Country Cousin," a light, predictable drawing room comedy of manners fashioned as a one-act play. Class conflicts, anti-Semitism and McCarthyism needle the WASPy characters, and personal transformations take place against the changing meanings of marriage and shifting social mores. Though there are few surprises and the waters aren't deep, Auchincloss turns over his own turf with consistent charm.
