Patty's Social Season

Patty Fairfield steps into the glittering spotlight of New York society in this sparkling portrait of a young woman's 'coming out.' The novel opens on Patty overwhelmed in her lavishly decorated drawing room, buried under an avalanche of flowers from admirers celebrating her debut. It's 1900s Manhattan at its most opulent: where a girl's worth is measured in bouquets and ball invitations, and where Patty must somehow navigate the treacherous waters of social expectations, secret crushes, and the relentless pressure to be charming, proper, and utterly desirable. Wells captures the intoxicating anxiety of that first season with sharp humor and affectionate satire, watching Patty laugh her way through garden parties and dinner dances while learning that society's rules were made to be both obeyed and quietly subverted. For readers who adore Gilded Age atmosphere and the particular thrill of watching a lively, slightly Naïve girl discover that debutante life is far more complicated than it appears.