Minxminnie
14th September 2011, 06:17 PM
For a girl from a humble background, I have a strange fascination with books about posh folk - I blame it on all those boarding school stories when I was growing up.
Fiona McCarthy is a respected biographer, and her book is a social history of the lives of those schoolgirls, looking specifically at her "year" who were the last group of debutantes to be presented to the Queen. It ended in 1958: Princess Margaret commented that it had to end because "every tart in London" was getting in.
(Strangely, I saw an article in Sunday's Independent about the revival of many aspects of the Season, but on an international scale - the Chinese love it.)
For girls of an aristocratic or well-connected, wealthy background, the Season was their first adult summer, with an exhausting schedule of balls, cocktail parties and house visits. They started by curtseying to the Queen and were pretty much supposed to end it by securing a suitable husband. McCarthy rocked the boat a bit, going to Oxford - I think she said only three of her year group went to university. Girls of this class didn't get much education apart from a "non-academic" school and finishing school. (They actually went to finishing school! I think I had assumed that was only in books ...)
She uses the chronogical structure of the Season as a route into a really interesting social history of a turning point in the upper classes. They were already struggling, with high death duties and the aftermath of rationing. Life was far from glamorous in many ways. When the 60s came along, much of the old order crumbled away. McCarthy looks at things like the (lack of) education of would-be debutantes, the decline of the country house and the change in attitudes towards the aristocracy.
She takes an affectionate but slightly critical approach, as she left her background behind and became a features writer for the Guardian. She ends the book with stories of what happened to the debs of her year, with a good few scandals.
I really enjoyed this - it was a good mix between serious social commentary and a window on a lifestyle I am unlikely to ever get near.
Fiona McCarthy is a respected biographer, and her book is a social history of the lives of those schoolgirls, looking specifically at her "year" who were the last group of debutantes to be presented to the Queen. It ended in 1958: Princess Margaret commented that it had to end because "every tart in London" was getting in.
(Strangely, I saw an article in Sunday's Independent about the revival of many aspects of the Season, but on an international scale - the Chinese love it.)
For girls of an aristocratic or well-connected, wealthy background, the Season was their first adult summer, with an exhausting schedule of balls, cocktail parties and house visits. They started by curtseying to the Queen and were pretty much supposed to end it by securing a suitable husband. McCarthy rocked the boat a bit, going to Oxford - I think she said only three of her year group went to university. Girls of this class didn't get much education apart from a "non-academic" school and finishing school. (They actually went to finishing school! I think I had assumed that was only in books ...)
She uses the chronogical structure of the Season as a route into a really interesting social history of a turning point in the upper classes. They were already struggling, with high death duties and the aftermath of rationing. Life was far from glamorous in many ways. When the 60s came along, much of the old order crumbled away. McCarthy looks at things like the (lack of) education of would-be debutantes, the decline of the country house and the change in attitudes towards the aristocracy.
She takes an affectionate but slightly critical approach, as she left her background behind and became a features writer for the Guardian. She ends the book with stories of what happened to the debs of her year, with a good few scandals.
I really enjoyed this - it was a good mix between serious social commentary and a window on a lifestyle I am unlikely to ever get near.