The Last Dance of the Debutante

Kelly’s captivating latest (after The Last Garden of England) follows a young woman making her debut in 1958 London, the last year debutantes were presented before the monarch. Lily Nichols, 18, is a talented dressmaker who loves to read and longs for a future other than that of a housewife. Her cold mother, Josephine, who’s harboring some family secrets, relies on Lily’s wealthy, controlling grandmother for financial support. Both regard Lily’s societal obligations, with all its rules and gossip, very seriously. Lily becomes fast friends with the well-connected Leana Hartford, which improves her social capital, though Leana’s mean streak and bossy nature quickly exhausts Lily, who finds common ground with down-to-earth Katherine Norman, the daughter of a newspaper magnate who’s maligned for coming from new money. Katherine encourages Lily to follow her dreams of going to university and pursuing poor-but-wonderful Ian Bingham. The engrossing narrative dishes out the right amount of tension while moving the plot forward at a satisfying pace. The final act concerns Josephine’s unveiled secrets, which feel superfluous, but Kelly’s descriptions of the emotionally exhausting business of doing and wearing the right thing elicit empathy for characters whose circumstances depend on finding a husband. Kelly succeeds at bringing a bygone world to life. (Dec.)