Last Curtsey: The End of the Debutantes

This is a lovely story about the last debutante Season with court presentation (because the Season without that formal presentation limped along for awhile after - see Julaen Fellowes "Past Imperfect"). Evidently, by the 1950s, the presentation had expanded so dramatically that it was no longer restricted to young ladies of noble or gentle birth. Instead "any tart in London" could be presented (I think that was a quote from Princess Margarete). So Queen Elizabeth abolished the custom of formal presentation to the sovereign. Fiona MacCarthy was a part of that last Season of 1958, herself fresh from the school room and making her curtsy to society. Ms. MacCarthy indicated that she came up with the idea for the book after she and her fellow debutantes gathered together for a reunion (was it 40 years?). So she gathered the materials she and her friends kept of that magical time -- diaries, news clippings, letters, invitations, and their shared memories to weave together a biographical and delightful story. What comes through most is Ms. MacCarthy's writing prowess. The story is necessarily packed with many many many details. And that, in the hands of a less skilled writer, usually dooms any such tale to a grim, tedious chore of a read. Not this one. She achieves a wonderful balance of detail and story. And then there is Ms. MacCarthy's great ability to tell a good story. She knows just where to digress to explain something, to spend some pages on back story, or to insert current comment or interpretation on past events. What I particularly liked was the last chapter which was devoted to what happened to those young girls from decades past. How did they grow and change over time? What life decisions did they make? What were their accomplishments? How did the dramatic cultural shifts they experienced in their lifetimes impact on them? It was the perfect way to end the book and the sign of a skilled plottist completing a story arc. Overall, if you're interested in the topic, I highly recommend the book.

This book skims the surface nicely, gently in much the way the debs themselves approached conversation. Little controversy. The author's personal memories and her follow up on the debs many years later are very nice reading. However, the book for me was spoiled by an ridiculous attempt to paint Princess Diana as the true last deb--barf! The rest of the book is well worth it, just skip the final mawkish, cloying and totally illogical final chapter.