The Season, Kristen Richardson
The Season, Kristen Richardson
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Season
A Social History of the Debutante

Author: Kristen Richardson

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Unabridged: 9 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/19/2019


Synopsis

Kristen Richardson, from a family of debutantes, chose not to debut. But as her curiosity drove her to research this enduring custom, she learned that it, and debutantes, are not as simple as they seem.

The story begins in England six hundred years ago when wealthy fathers needed an efficient way to find appropriate husbands for their daughters. Elizabeth I's exclusive presentations at her court expanded into London's full season of dances, dinners, and courting, extending eventually to the many corners of the British empire and beyond.

Richardson traces the social seasons of young women on both sides of the Atlantic, from Georgian England to colonial Philadelphia, from the Antebellum South and Wharton's New York back to England. She delves into Jazz Age debuts, carnival balls in the American South, and the reimagined ritual of elite African American communities.

The Season shares the captivating stories of these young women, often through their words from diaries, letters, and interviews that Richardson conducted at contemporary balls. The debutantes give voice to an array of complex feelings about being put on display, about the young men they meet, and about what their future in society or as wives might be.

About Kristen Richardson

Kristen Richardson was born in London, and lives with her son in Brooklyn. The Season is her first book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Natalie

I was pleasantly surprised at how much more than describing the rites of debutantes this book speaks to. Within the framework of describing the debutante phenomenon, the author meshes it with changing social norms and growing internationalism. A few debs are highlighted to give the reader an underst......more

I was never able to find the thesis/focus of this history. The narrative skips around geographically and never seems to tie anything together. The modern debutantes are glossed over with a shrug from the author saying she couldn't get anyone to talk. If you've read Regency romances, you probably have......more

Goodreads review by John

Don't let those evening gloves on that pink mauve cover fool you — this is a terse, tense history of deep social revision. Kristen Richardson educates the reader through six centuries of debutante culture that arose from attempts to preserve, promote and propagate bastions of power and culture. From......more