NEWPORT: A Novel

by Edwin Gilbert ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1971

Cleveland Amory once said ""A 'good family,' it seems, is one that used to be better."" Newport today is full of good families like that, which still have a considerable allure for Peter Dorios, third-generation Greek, documentary film-writer, Harvard 1955 where he had first known Steve Stellwaithe, Newport's finest. He's always the outsider in this enclave so impregnable in its old homes, sailboats and Puccis. It's of course Auchincloss country as well (literally) where everyone submits to the arbitrage of its native aristocracy: if you say ""I'm pleased to meet you,"" you're told (off) ""I don't doubt it."" Anyway this is one of Gilbert's novels of the casual high life -- notably the Stellwaithes and the muffled scandal of about two years ago (what did happen in that boatshed?) and particularly Steve and his wife Carter with their expensive ease, and most especially Carter, with whom Peter falls in love. Everything glistens -- the water and the sand and the sex -- and fades along with that suntan. But it's pleasant enough to acquire.

Pub Date: July 1, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION