Eleanor Moskovitz is having a rough time - the man she thought could be the one left her with no warning, she's having a hard time finding purpose at work, and she still lives with her overprotective Jewish mother. To make matters worse, on her way to a new job interview, her taxi is rear-ended by one of New York society's most popular socialites, Patricia Bellamy. Patricia insists Eleanor come up to her apartment to freshen up. There she meets Margaux, Patricia's sullen teenage daughter, still trying to deal with her new life after recovering from polio. Eleanor and Margaux take to each other, and when Patricia finds out Eleanor was a teacher, she hires her to tutor her daughter. Margaux blossoms under Eleanor's tutelage, and Patricia is thrilled that her daughter has come back to life. So much, that Patricia invites Eleanor to come with them to their summer home in Connecticut as Margaux's companion.
Spending her summer with the Bellamys starts out well enough: easy lessons with Margaux, lunch at the club, and dinner parties with the neighbors, but Eleanor knows Patricia is keeping Eleanor's Jewish heritage from her haughty WASP friends. She also can't help but feel Patricia's husband, Wynn, thinks she's a bad influence on Margaux. But when Patricia's bohemian brother Tom comes to stay, Eleanor is smitten, and it seems Tom is, too. But if Patricia finds out, will she still want Eleanor to work with Margaux? And can the Park Avenue set really accept Eleanor as one of their own?
NOT OUR KINDย by Kitty Zeldis is an enjoyable and witty novel! Set a couple of years after WWII, Eleanor is a young woman on the brink of independence in a changing world. While she'd never do anything to truly hurt her mother and her family values, Eleanor wants to live life on her own terms, and making a career change to a private tutor for a rich family is just the first step. On the other hand, Patricia is dealing with a strained marriage and her daughter's attempts to return to their old life. Both Eleanor and Patricia are tested throughout this book, and they both have to figure out what matters most to them: what is expected, or what will make them happy. Zeldis' descriptions of 1940s sophisticated fashion, glitzy decor, and flashy parties bring the world fully to life. Even with a breezy tone, more serious matters are explored with care and intrigue. A thoughtful and dazzling historical fiction novel!
With echoes of Rules of Civility and The Boston Girl, a
compelling and thought-provoking novel set in postwar New
York City, about two womenโone Jewish, one a WASPโand 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. Patriciaโs difficult thirteen-
year-old daughter Margaux, recovering from polio, needs a
private tutor.
Though she feels out of place in the Bellamysโ rarefied
and elegant Park Avenue milieu, Eleanor forms an instant
bond with Margaux. Soon the idealistic young woman is
filling the bright young girlโs 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
Bellamysโ restricted doorman building each morning, and
feels that Patriciaโs husband, Wynn, may have a problem
with her being Jewish.
Invited to keep Margaux company at the Bellamysโ country
home in a small town in Connecticut, Eleanor meets
Patriciaโs 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
womenโs friendship growsโuntil one hot summer evening, a
line is crossed, and both Eleanor and Patricia will have
to make important decisionsโchoices that will reverberate
through their lives.
Gripping and vividly told, Not Our Kind illuminates the
lives of two women on the cusp of changeโand asks how
much our pasts can and should define our futures.
© 2003-2026