New Releases by Louis Auchincloss

From a New York Times–bestselling author: A novel about a member of the Greatest Generation wrestling with moral choices over the next generation’s war in Vietnam. Chip Benedict appeared to have the best of everything: wealth, education, good looks, charm, and intelligence. Shortly before entering law school, he married Alida, a pale beauty who also had the cunning and talent to become the debutante of the year, escaping the progressively threadbare world of tarnished elegance and unpaid bills to which she was born. Alida’s life continued in a storybook fashion with her marriage to Chip, a seemingly perfect and certainly honorable man. Called to serve in World War II, he returned a hero, decorated for bravery at the Normandy landing. Following in his father’s footsteps, he became chairman of the board of the prestigious Benedict Glass Company founded by his grandfather. And yet, with all of his gifts, Chip is haunted by dark guilt that drives him to excel, conform, and embrace a righteousness that he fails to perceive as hypocrisy. In business he becomes the perfect corporate executive, lauded in Fortune and Forbes. He serves his community, supports the arts, and patriotically honors his government. But when it comes to choosing sides on the issue of Vietnam, he will make a decision that casts aside the deepest ties and loyalties of his life. “Through a series of flashbacks the narrators come to realize how outside events have influenced their lives. Auchincloss uses their story to show us the frailties of human nature when confronted with politics and morality. This psychological novel is perceptive, elegantly spare, and well crafted.” —Library Journal

The author of Exit Lady Masham explores the lives of twelve members of a high society ladies’ book club in New York over the course of sixty years. “If I have a bias it is in my suspicion that women are intellectually and intuitively superior to men,” writes Christopher Gates, the narrator of this book. “But,” he adds, “I certainly never thought they were “nicer.” And I very much doubt that anyone could think so who was raised, as I was, in a society in which the female had so many more privileges than the male.” Thus, he describes the twelve women who—as debutantes— instituted his mother’s “book class” in 1908 and met every month for over sixty years to discuss a selected title, old or new. During their lifetimes, these women did not have any real political or economic clout comparable to that of the men of their day. Only Adeline Bloodgood had ever held a regular job, and only Polly Travers, as a State Assemblywoman, ever played a formal role in politics. For Georgia Bristed, “the hostess had largely consumed the woman,” and Leila Lee was “a beauty in a day when simply being beautiful was considered an adequate occupation.” Although most of them were surrounded by a staff of servants and had no discernible responsibilities, these women still lived with serious intent backed by a considerable and undeniable power that in no way derived from “the snares and lures of womanly wiles.” Within the protected discipline of their surroundings, their lives were filled with drama and challenge—moments of passion, of betrayal and loyalty, of sweet revenge and joyless conquest, of irony and illumination . . .

In this witty historical novel by the author of Watchfires, a poor woman joins the eighteenth-century court of Queen Anne and ends a war. On the Continent, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, is laying waste to the lowlands in a bloody combat with Louis XIV. Meanwhile at the British court, Queen Anne, aging, ill, and surrounded by sycophants, is coping with the intrigues of those who wish to promote Marlborough’s dangerous ambitions. Chief among the plotters is his headstrong wife (and court favorite), Sarah Churchill. Into this tense and steamy environment comes young Abigail Hill, Sarah’s impoverished cousin. Sarah has arranged for her to be a maid to the Queen. But Abigail will discover that she has been marked by destiny for a special mission, which is nothing less than to bring to a halt a destructive world war. How she accomplishes this is the subject of this unusual but historically justified tale . . . The drama of court life and high politics, the growing antagonism between Sarah and Abigail, and an engaging cast of characters make for a lively narrative. And the portrait of Queen Anne is a tour de force that lends further depth to this vivid and engaging book. Perfect for fans of the Yorgos Lanthimos film, The Favourite, starring Olivia Coleman and Emma Stone.

Twelve stories observing modern American life and morals in the twentieth century, from the National Medal of Arts–winning author of The Cat and the King. With this collection of short stories, Louis Auchincloss will delight his already devoted followers and win many more into the ranks. The stories, which range from studies of family manipulation to the secrets of artistic inspiration, are in fact subtle fables that probe the heart of modern American life to examine the moral confusion that exists there. In the title story, a wealthy muralist and patroness of the arts succumbs to the near compulsion of posing in the nude for a fellow artist who then blackmails her. In other tales, a clergyman conceives of adultery as a valid means of sharing Christian charity; a socially prominent family conspires to entrap a girl into a “front” marriage with their homosexual son and heir; an art student writes his thesis on some startling theories as to why a famed painter of elegant interiors never includes a human figure in his pictures; a federal judge sells his opinions to the highest bidder with a recklessness that seems, almost suicidally, to invite detection. Combining his powers of storytelling and observation, Auchincloss creates in Narcissa and Other Fables a penetrating glimpse into the ethical malaise of our century. Praise for Narcissa and Other Fables “This book of short stories by America’s leading novelist of manners is a textbook in how to write fiction in miniature. It begins with “fables” of normal short story length and ends with tour de force one-pagers . . . . The confused ethics of Americans in the dying years of a revolutionary century are put under the microscope for a moment of breath-taking clarity.” —Frederick M. Winship, UPI “Auchincloss is a worldly philosopher who writes with confident authority of the law office and the board room, but he is also a social historian and an amused observer of the prosperous at play. The venue may be a cruise ship or a minor stately home in Virginia, an urban chateau on Fifth Avenue or a great bibliophile’s private library overlooking the East River. His characters tend to be “tribal creatures” who pay lip service to social taboos but who live by the laws of self-interest.” —Frances Taliaferro, New York Times

The marriage of Dexter and Rosalie Fairchild--a relationship reflecting the security and privilege of their upper-class New York City lives--is disrupted by personal and political tensions arising from the Civil War.

Like Francis Prescott in The Rector of Justin, Guy Prime enjoyed the distinction of having become a legend in his lifetime. But in Guy''s case, the legend is one of betrayal and infamy. For the scandal of his embezzlement brought down the delicately balanced structure of the Stock Exchange. The long-honored system of self-government by mutual trust among gentlemen came to an end with the default of one of its brightest stars. The story of Guy''s fall is told by the three persons most intimately concerned: Guy himself, Rex Geer, his closest friend, and Angelica, his wife. We see him first through his own eyes — embittered, oddly proud of his peculiar distinction, and entirely unrepentant — the golden boy, the Wall Street manipulator, and finally the old man determined to justify himself to the grandchildren he will never see. Rex and Angelica in turn pick up the same threads of the story, but the threads change color subtly as they pass through different hands. In the end, the reader must decide for himself which is the real Guy Prime. Louis Auchincloss brings to the financial world the same authority and understanding he brought to the worlds of the law (Powers of Attorney), the private school (The Rector of Justin), and the old families of New York (Portrait in Brownstone). Virgilia Peterson, writing in the New York Times Book Review, called The Rector of Justin "not only a passionately interesting, but a spiritually important study of the American character of, and for our time." Her words hold true for The Embezzler.

Tales that take you behind the scenes of a powerful New York law firm, from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Partners. Ambition, jealousy, desire, hatred, deceit—they’re all there inside the Wall Street law offices of Tower, Tilney & Webb, the setting for these interwoven stories set in the 1960s from Louis Auchincloss, who practiced law while also writing acclaimed and bestselling fiction. Senior partner Clitus Tilney is not about to let a detestable, hard-drinking partner make a mockery of all he’s worked for. Harry Reilley is a clerk who pines for Tilney’s daughter. Jake Platt is an associate willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, including setting a rival up for failure. Rutherford Tower struggles with the fact that he owes his position with the firm to nepotism and not hard work. And then there’s Mrs. Abercrombie, who’s waiting for her sixty-fifth birthday, when she plans to retire—and get her revenge. These twelve linked stories capture the struggles, rivalries, victories, disappointments, and compromises in the day-to-day lives of lawyers, and a portrait of professional men and women in mid-century New York.

"Part sociology, part royal gossip, this glossy, readable book follows Victoria from her submissive childhood through her domineering reign. Auchincloss - a Wall Street lawyer and novelist (The Winthrop Covenant) - paints the Queen as less pompous than have previous biographers. But he is really more concerned with the courtly higher-ups around her and provides a non-Victorian, savvy lowdown. With its plentiful illustrations, this is a fascinating introduction to the era."--Amazon.com.

Poverty-stricken Amy Hunt hopes that marriage will enable her to escape from her dependency on her wealthy relatives, but marriage becomes a nightmare when her past mistakes come back to haunt her and her husband.

The offices, penthouses, and suburban chateaux of New York are the setting for Louis Auchincloss''s The Dark Lady. Spanning three decades from the 1930s to the McCarthy era, the novel chronicles a powerful woman''s rise and the human toll it exacts. In a world where birth and style count nearly as much as wealth, Elesina Dart is supremely equipped to star. Lovely, well-born, bright, even moderately talented as an actress, Elesina seems perversely bent on canceling out these advantages. After two destructive marriages and an affair with alcohol, she is close to low ebb when Ivy Trask takes her on. Ivy''s business is the exercise of power, as editor of the fashion-arbitrating Tone magazine and in her own loveless life. In Elesina, she finds material worthy of her best efforts. Stage-managed by Ivy, Elesina makes a widely successful and equally scandalous match with Judge Irving Stein, banker, connoisseur, collector—and old enough to know better, as all who are close to him point out. Mistress of Broadlawns, Irving''s Westchester estate, and caretaker of his fabulous art collection are roles Elesina takes in stride. For all his riches and influence, Irving is a man of deep sensibility, a romantic—as is David, his attractive youngest son, whose passion for his stepmother leads to tragic consequences. Inevitably, husband, lover, and friend all fall victim to Elesina''s need for the center stage, which she has come to see as her manifest destiny. In this major novel, Louis Auchincloss examines the many faces of ambition and desire that rule both the schemers and dreamers of fashionable society. It is a story that only Auchincloss, with his exceptional knowledge and insight, could write.

Spanning three centuries, these nine stories share the conflicts of a wealthy New England family while portraying the rise and fall of the Puritan ethic. The Winthrop Heritage begins in the stern confines of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—Governor John Winthrop’s covenant with God versus Anne Hutchinson’s compulsion to martyrdom. The burden of conscience falls in varying ways to the Governor’s descendants. To his grandson, a judge in the Salem witch trials, it means dying in torment. To Rebecca Bayard, wife of a Hudson Valley patroon, it becomes an obsessive sense of duty leading to ironic consequences. It persuades an American diplomat, negotiating in Paris with the canny Talleyrand, to reject the easy gain of private power. On the eve of the Civil War, Winthrop Ward, pillar of rectitude in New York society, finds himself playing God at the price of his own humanity. At the century’s turn, there is Adam Winthrop, wealthy clubman and cultural arbiter, and his protégée Ada Guest—the passionate bluestocking novelist who opts to escape his stifling patronage. In a New England boarding school in the 1920s, the headmaster’s bedeviled Winthrop soul becomes a strange challenge to the chaplain. On the current scene, young and fashionable Natica Seligmann yearns for salvation from an empty life. And finally, there is John Winthrop Gardiner, staunch State Department hawk, whose son is an Army deserter—and whose alcoholic ex-wife perceives only too clearly the latter-day perversions of the Puritan spirit. A compassionate, searching, and wholly arresting view of a moral strain that, for better or worse, has marked our national character, The Winthrop Covenant is one of Louis Auchincloss’ highest fictional achievements.

Collection of vignettes dealing with the partners coming up or going out in a New York firm.

An aspiring politician finds his family life and career threatened when his investments in the stock market are linked with organized crime.

Henry Adams - American Writers 93 was first published in 1971. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

Pre-publication review proof copy.

Critical discussions of American women authors.

Ellen Glasgow - American Writers 33 was first published in 1964. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

Essays, by a well known novelist, on Edith Wharton, Proust, Henry James, Trollope, John O''Hara, and other writers.).