Summary
They go through both bottles of champagne right there on the High Line, with nothing but the stars over them . . . They drink and Lavinia tells Louise about all the places they will go together, when they finish their stories, when they are both great writers -- to Paris and to Rome and to Trieste . . .
Published Reviews
Booklist Review:
"Louise Wilson, who wants to write but instead works three jobs and still struggles to make rent on her Brooklyn studio, leads a lonely life before she meets Lavinia Williams. When Lavinia, an aspiring writer who can afford to be one, hires Louise to tutor her younger sister, who needs no help, the two hit it off. Beginning on New Year's 2015, Lavinia ushers Louise into her glamorous and debauched New York life. They end their nights at dawn, reciting poetry as they promised they would with their new, matching tattoos (MORE POETRY!!!). It's quickly clear that Lavinia has polished a dusty, lost soul into a sparkling best friend before, and things didn't end well. The narrator soon addresses the reader a recurring device to reveal that Lavinia will soon die. This fast-paced, stylish, dialogue- and character-driven debut from journalist and scholar Burton will definitively ensnare readers. Diabolically playing on what we think we know about others and what we reveal about ourselves in the social-media age, it will give readers the creeps, too.--Bostrom, Annie Copyright 2018 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review:
"Fans of the cult classic Poison Ivy will appreciate the mousy girl-wild girl dynamic on display in Burton's fiendishly clever debut. At 29, insecure Louise Wilson is a would-be writer living in fear of the dictum, "if you haven't made it in New York by 30, you never will." All that changes when she meets 23-year-old socialite Lavinia Williams, who seems to be channeling the free spirit of the late Zelda Fitzgerald (with flapper dresses to match). Larger-than-life Lavinia takes Louise under her wing and introduces her new bestie to a Manhattan she never knew existed, including parties in haunted hotels and secret bookstores and people with names like Beowulf Marmont and Athena Maidenhead, all the while dressing as if for a costume ball that never ends. Only later does Louise experience the hateful, spiteful, jealous side of Lavinia's personality in what becomes an ingenious dark thriller in the Patricia Highsmith Tom Ripley mode. Louise and Lavinia are bold, brilliant characters. This devious, satisfying novel perfectly captures a very narrow slice of the Manhattan demimonde. Agent: Emma Parry, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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