manhattan

Seen through the lens of an anthropologist, the women who inhabit the Upper East Side of New York City appear to be a strange tribe with outrageous rituals, beliefs, and attitudes.

In this memoir by Wednesday Martin, we watch as she, along with her husband and young child, journey from lower to upper Manhattan – a trip that is negligible geography-wise and enormous socially and culturally.

As she undertakes the highly stressful search for the right apartment and preschool, Martin realizes what a foreign land she has moved to. It is from within this unique and exclusive enclave that Martin,

The Luxe, by Anna Godbersen, reminds me a little of a Jane Austen novel in that the rules of society can be imprsioning and can cause much tragedy and heartache. The story takes place in Manhattan at the very end of 1899. It is the story of the elite, the upper class, the wealthy. They live in their own world, filled with dancing, parties, social visits, the opera,  lavish dinners, and rules. The rules determine what one can and cannot do, say and not say, at least in public. It is a world where a few words spoken to the right person can ruin a woman’s reputation, and hence, her future as the