In certain glittering circles of Jazz Age society in New York, a little discreet philandering is not only encouraged, but condoned. After meeting Octavian Rofrano, a stoic young World War I pilot, society matron Theresa Marshall has embarked on her first extramarital affair. Though the Boy, as she calls him, wants to marry her, Theresa is unwilling to divorce her husband and give up her lavish lifestyle. But things change when Theresa's brother, Jay, enlists the Boy to perform an old family tradition: presenting an engagement ring on his behalf to the beautiful Sophie Fortescue. Beatriz Williams expertly explores the tangled web in her seventh novel, A Certain Age.
Williams (Along the Infinite Sea) alternates deftly between Theresa's voice and Sophie's, weaving the intertwined stories of two very different families. Sophie's father, a reclusive inventor whose success has suddenly made him a wealthy man, is reluctant to let his bright younger daughter enjoy the privileges of their precarious new social standing. Theresa, the daughter of an old New York family, has raised her children, endured her husband's infidelity and now sees her second chance for happiness. When the time Octavian spends with Sophie leads to the revelation of a terrible secret, both women reach a crossroads, each forced to make an agonizing choice.
Deliciously scandalous and elegantly written, A Certain Age is a dazzling reinterpretation of Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier, and a thoroughly satisfying love story. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams