IN POLITE COMPANY

Dissatisfied with her prescribed life, a young woman attempts to be bold.

As a member of the Charleston, South Carolina, social elite, Simons Parks Smythe has had her life planned out for her since birth. For a while she stuck to the script: She was a debutante, she attends functions at the exclusive social club Battery Hall, and her fiance, Trip, has the “law degree and southern pedigree” that make him a perfect fit for her world. But Simons is not satisfied with this life. Not only does she feel stalled in her career as a producer at a local news station, but she is also growing increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of marrying Trip. This discomfort is spurred by the less-than-perfect marriages she sees around her as well as Trip’s controlling behavior: “When I reached for a second helping of potatoes au gratin, Trip pressed his hand against my thigh. His signal, invisible beneath the table, told me not to stuff myself in polite company.” With repeated encouragement from her beloved grandmother Laudie to be brave, Simons must weigh her desire for comfort and familiarity against her newfound taste for freedom and individuality. From occasional references to Simons’ passion for environmental reporting and her soft critiques of the racism of Charleston high society—“It seems Battery Hall is even more backwards than I had feared”—Hagerty’s attempts to set Simons apart from her peers feel largely shoehorned-in and underdeveloped. That said, the rich depictions of the Old Charleston world and its peculiar social rules, as well as Laudie’s intriguing backstory, give this novel just enough grit to make it worth reading.

A reminder of the rewards of taking the more challenging path.