Bright Young Things

Recently, I was pleasantly surprised by Bright Young Things, by Anna Godbersen. Similar to her first series, the Luxe, which followed the interweaving stories of the high society residents of New York City in 1889, the series's three books center around three friends and their exploits in the NYC summer of 1929. In the book, Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur have just escaped from the stifling confines of Union, Ohio, the small town the girls grew up in. They are heading to the city, Letty with dreams of being a singer/actress, Cordelia with hopes of finding her estranged father, Darius Grey, now an extremely rich bootlegger, profiting off the market of illegal alcohol in the age of Prohibition. When Cordelia seeks him out at Dogwood, his colossal estate on Long Island, he welcomes her. There she meets Astrid Donal, the gorgeous and vivacious girlfriend of Cordelia's brother Charlie. The girls soon become friends, but the life Cordelia has just discovered, and the life of her father, is soon threatened by Darius's rivals, the Hales.

I really enjoyed this book, much more than I thought I would. The plot was engaging and surprising, and I thought Godbersen did a great job balancing going back and fourth between the events happening to each girl. It was fast-paced without being confusing. The writing was descriptive, and I especially loved the details that were specific to 1929.  The book was also chalk full of dramatic irony. In the prologue it talks a bit about the 1920s, and the lats sentence is "at the end of the fateful summer, one would be famous, one would be married, and the other would be dead," which stays with you thought the entire book. Another piece of dramatic irony was the whole time period. I know that the stock market crash that started the Great Depression took place at the end of 1929, so I know that after this last summer, things are going to change dramatically. Overall, it was a great book, and I can't wait to see what else she has written.