A Lady of Good Family

PRAISE FOR
A LADY OF GOOD FAMILY

“Reading one of Jeanne Mackin’s historical novels is the next best thing to having a time machine at your disposal.
A Lady of Good Family
is so immersive, so captivating in its depiction of famed Gilded Age landscape architect Beatrix Farrand—niece of Edith Wharton and friend of Henry James—that I devoured it in one sitting.”

—Jennifer Robson, author of
After the War is Over
and
Somewhere in France

PRAISE FOR
THE BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN

“
The Beautiful American
will transport you to expat Paris and from there take you on a journey through the complexities of a friendship as it is inflected through the various lenses of nostalgia, pity, celebrity, jealousy, and—ultimately—love. Jeanne Mackin breathes new life into such luminaries as Man Ray, Picasso, and, of course, the titular character, Lee Miller, while at the same time offering up a wonderfully human and sympathetic protagonist in Nora Tours.”

—Suzanne Rindell, author of
The Other Typist

“Beautiful. . . . Mackin has created a fascinating account of a little-known woman who was determined to play by her own rules . . . definitely does the period justice.”

—Historical Novel Society

“Jeanne Mackin’s portrait of Europe in the years encompassing the Second World War is achingly beautiful and utterly mesmerizing, and her vividly drawn characters, the legendary Lee Miller among them, come heartbreakingly alive in their obsessions, tragedies, and triumphs.
The Beautiful American
is sure to appeal to fans of Paula McLain’s
The Paris Wife
and Erika Robuck’s
Call Me Zelda
, or indeed to anyone with a taste for impeccably researched and beautifully written historical fiction.”

—Jennifer Robson

“The story’s haunting ambience will remain in the reader’s thoughts and feelings for a long time after experiencing this exquisitely depicted story of love, betrayal, forgiveness, haunting memories, and so much more!”

—Crystal Book Reviews

“From Poughkeepsie to Paris, from the razzmatazz of the twenties to the turmoil of World War Two and the perfume factories of Grasse, Mackin draws you into the world of expatriate artists and photographers and tells a story of love, betrayal, survival, and friendship. As complex as the fragrances Mackin writes about,
The Beautiful American
is an engaging and unforgettable novel. I couldn’t put it down.”

—Renée Rosen, author of
Dollface

“An exquisitely imagined and beautifully rendered story of the talented, tragic, gorgeous Lee Miller.”

—Becky E. Conekin, author of
Lee Miller in Fashion

“A gorgeous tale. . . . I envy those who get to read it for the first time.”

—Book-alicious Mama

“Jeanne Mackin blends a tale as intoxicating as the finest fragrance. Spanning wars both personal and global,
The Beautiful American
leaves its essence of love, loss, regret, and hope long after the novel concludes.”

—Erika Robuck, author of
Call Me Zelda
and
Fallen Beauty

“Jeanne Mackin’s luminous novel about Man Ray and his model-mistress, Lee Miller, evokes the iridescence of 1920s Paris, when youth and artistic freedom and sexual excess were all that mattered.
The Beautiful American
, which readers will rank right up there with
The Paris Wife
, takes readers from the giddiness of the flapper era to the grittiness of World War Two. It is a brilliant, beautifully written literary masterpiece. I love this book!”

—Sandra Dallas,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Fallen Women

“Lovers of the film
Midnight in Paris
will definitely enjoy this.”

—Chick Lit+

“The setting is fascinating, the real and fictional characters intriguing.”

—
RT Book Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS
OF JEANNE MACKIN

“Rich in detail, from descriptions of food and attire to historical personages, this first novel is well written and entirely believable. Mackin is positioned to join the ranks of popular historical novelists.”

—
Library Journal

“Jeanne Mackin has written a multilayered, multigenerational story of a spirited encounter with the spirit world.”

—Nicholas Delbanco, author of
What Remains

“I read this novel in two sittings, eager to learn how the lives and love stories turned out. . . . Before I realized it, I was swept up in Maggie and Helen’s intersecting worlds. . . . One of the book’s many charms is how wisely it reveals the values and passions of two women from very different eras who, nonetheless, have everything in common.”

—Diane Ackerman, author of
The Zookeeper’s Wife

“[Mackin’s] narrator, while asserting that she is no ‘hagiographer of spurious mystics,’ is an engaging woman, solid in her station, widely conversant with the deeper reaches of the paranormal, and magically involved with her quest. Here she leads the mind in a chase as she finds herself tempted to believe in the return of departed spirits, in prose that is as amiable to read as the palm of a hand. A haunting book in every way. Masterly and fervent.”

—Paul West, author of
The Secret Lives of Words

“A sensitive, affectionate, and appealing portrait of [Maggie Fox], the uneducated girl who at fourteen escaped rural poverty and a drunken, abusive father to become America’s first and most famous Spiritualist medium.”

—Alison Lurie, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of
Foreign Affairs

“The author of
The Frenchwoman
again imaginatively samples French history and here constructs a witty, lightly satirical, entertaining amalgam of murder, greed, and revenge . . . a richly intelligent and charming spellbinder.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

Other Novels by Jeanne Mackin

The Beautiful American

The Sweet By and By

Dreams of Empire

The Queen’s War

The Frenchwoman

New American Library

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published by New American Library,

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Copyright © Jeanne Mackin, 2015

Readers Guide copyright © Penguin Group (USA) LLC

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

Mackin, Jeanne.

A lady of good family / Jeanne Mackin.

pages cm.

ISBN 978-1-101-63563-6

1. Farrand, Beatrix, 1872–1959—Fiction. 2. Women in landscape architecture—Fiction. 3. United States—Social life and customs—1865–1918—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3563.A3169L33 2015

813'.54—dc23 2015001019

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To all gardeners, everywhere

The place had an air of refinement . . . one felt more and more that some moonlight nights in May . . . the ghosts of the people who once lived there must come back. Again their long dresses trailed rustling over the walks, and the sound of their voices laughing, for no one could cry in such a garden.

—Beatrix Jones Farrand

A Garden for First Meetings

T
his is the most difficult type of garden to design, since who can tell when first meetings will occur? However, if you are inclined to plan for the unforeseen, to hope for limitless possibility, I recommend a garden that includes elements of the romantic, the antique, and the implausible.

The romantic element should include a series of intersecting winding paths, trails from which, at the beginning, one cannot see the ultimate destination but only guess at it. The gravel for these paths should be very fine and make only the slightest whisper of noise when walked upon.

The antique element should include a small folly or casino, a shelter of some sort in which those meeting for the first time can find objects to feed their conversation. First meetings often involve a certain amount of shyness, diffidence, and anxiety. It is therefore helpful if the garden provides distraction.

The implausible should include a plant growing out of place. I
do not normally recommend such a thing. Plants, after all, know where they like to grow and do not like to grow. Roses do not like shade and ferns do not like direct sun. If, however, you can convince creeping speedwell to grow in one twist of the gravel path, this serves as a reminder to those meeting for the first time that life is full of uncertainty and unexpected happenings. Above all else, we must cherish the mystery.

For plants I recommend pines as a backdrop, especially Roman umbrella pines if your climate will allow them. If not, a very small grove of Black Forest pines or, even better, pines from the Odenwald area of Germany, planted thickly.

Flowers should include angel’s tears daffodils of the narcissus species. They are smaller than other varieties and require a more observant eye;
Aquilegia vulgaris
, or common columbine, which looks best grown in semishadowed areas;
Chrysogonum virginianum
, goldenstar, which will bloom all summer in case the first meeting should not occur quickly.

And roses, of course. There should be roses in all gardens, and in a garden for first meetings the rose should be
Rosa gallica
“Officinalis,” the old apothecary rose, also known as the rose of Lancaster. This rose, with its very dark green foliage, blooms just once in the season, reminding us that first meetings are not to be taken for granted. It will also spread of its own will, sending out shoots in all directions, and is a good plant for sharing.