1927 Early Autumn
1927 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield 339 pages Summary The Pentlands, a snobby Massachusetts family, persist in their WASPy ways even as neighboring families die out and are replaced by nouveau riche social climbers. Pentland Manor is ruled by the ferociously etiquette-bound Aunt Cassie. Cassie runs the house in place of her sister-in-law, who is mysteriously housed in one wing of the grand house with a debilitating mental illness and a nurse to tend her. Cassie's brother, John, is the titular head of the family, but he spends his days playing bridge with a female friend of his wife. John's son Anson, the up-and-coming heir of the family, has married a lowly Scots-Irish girl named Olivia, much to the family's grave disappointment. The mismatched couple has one son who is always ill. A breath of fresh air arrives in the form of the Pentland daughter, Sybil, who is returning from school in Paris. A cousin Sabine, also lately from Europe, joins the family. These two free-thi...