Welcome to a wrld of fashionable parties and romantic entanglements in 1950s London. When Penelope Wallace meets the stylish yet spirited Charlotte Ferris, she is swept off her feet and into the whirlwind of high society. Penelope lives in the shadow of her incredibly glamorous widowed mother in an enormous mansion known as Magna, which the family can no longer afford. But to Charlotte and her handsome cousin Harry, she is just what they have been looking for. By agreeing to accompany Harry to a party to make his American exgirlfriend jealous, Penelope crosses a threshold that changes her forever,even as London itself is changing.

Rice writes about the young British upper class with sharp wit as well as compassion, and her characters, beneath their glittering charm, are appealingly vulnerable and utterly memorable--in short, brilliant company.