The Gay Cockade

Jimmie Harding stamps papers by day and writes plays by night in a Washington government office where boredom is the only guaranteed employment. When he inherits a Virginia estate, it feels like escape. His cousin Elise comes with him, brilliant and beautiful and absolutely certain she knows what's best for his future. She pushes him toward the stage, but as his career begins to bloom, Jimmie discovers that triumph has a shadow: the harder he works to become the man she wants, the more he loses the boy he was. Temple Bailey captures the particular anguish of early 20th century ambition, when new freedoms for young people meant new traps too. The writing fizzes with early century energy, mixing sharp social comedy with genuine heartache. This is a novel about what we sacrifice when we reach for our dreams and who gets to decide what success looks like.