The Visits of Elizabeth

This epistolary novel about a beautiful, blue-blooded, but somewhat dim young English debutante has many slyly amusing moments, but it all goes on too long. Elizabeth, whose mother stays home suffering with neuralgia, is paying a series of visits to her noble relatives across England and France. Her mother has coached her beforehand, but people behave so oddly that she is convinced that things must have changed from what her mother recalls. She recounts her experiences artlessly in a series of letters home, describing incidents fully but naively missing the implications of sexual intrigues going on around her. Her obliviousness is funny at first, but after a while, it becomes tiresome. The letters are all one way — we don't see Mamma's answers, and Elizabeth almost never refers to letters received. Ultimately, she remains just as innocent and unaware at the end of the novel as at its outset.

Another Elinor Glyn winner. Light, witty, elegant prose that leaves you wanting more. Enjoy!