With echoes of Rules of Civility and The Boston Girl, a
compelling and thought-provoking novel set in postwar New
York City, about two womenβone Jewish, one a WASPβand the
wholly unexpected consequences of their meeting.
One rainy morning in June, two years after the end of
World War II, a minor traffic accident brings together
Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy. Their encounter
seems fated: Eleanor, a teacher and recent Vassar
graduate, needs a job. Patriciaβs difficult thirteen-
year-old daughter Margaux, recovering from polio, needs a
private tutor.
Though she feels out of place in the Bellamysβ rarefied
and elegant Park Avenue milieu, Eleanor forms an instant
bond with Margaux. Soon the idealistic young woman is
filling the bright young girlβs mind with Shakespeare and
Latin. Though her mother, a hat maker with a little shop
on Second Avenue, disapproves, Eleanor takes pride in her
work, even if she must use the name "Moss" to enter the
Bellamysβ restricted doorman building each morning, and
feels that Patriciaβs husband, Wynn, may have a problem
with her being Jewish.
Invited to keep Margaux company at the Bellamysβ country
home in a small town in Connecticut, Eleanor meets
Patriciaβs unreliable, bohemian brother, Tom, recently
returned from Europe. The spark between Eleanor and Tom
is instant and intense. Flushed with new romance and
increasingly attached to her young pupil, Eleanor begins
to feel more comfortable with Patricia and much of the
world she inhabits. As the summer wears on, the two
womenβs friendship growsβuntil one hot summer evening, a
line is crossed, and both Eleanor and Patricia will have
to make important decisionsβchoices that will reverberate
through their lives.
Gripping and vividly told, Not Our Kind illuminates the
lives of two women on the cusp of changeβand asks how
much our pasts can and should define our futures.
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