A Bright New Thing by Brianne Moore

 

Astra Davies is what is known as a 'bright young thing'.  From a wealthy family with an estate, she dashes around London from parties to house parties to balls to dinners.  She doesn't have a thought in her head except to have fun and be with her friends and maybe, just maybe, get married although she isn't sure that's what she wants to do.  But then disaster strikes.  Her parents die and the family secrets are slowly revealed.  Her father had made bad investments and Astra finds herself left without money or marketable skills.

There's one man she is attracted to but Lord Jeremy Harris is in the same boat as she is.  His estate is in as much danger of poverty as hers is.  But no one is likely to ask Astra to marry them anyway.  She has run afoul of a scheming socialite who tries to ruin Astra by spreading lies and finding ways to separate Astra from her friends.  She even finds ways to set a spy on Astra to try to find out scandals about her.  All her schemes leave Astra ostracized by society. 

But Astra isn't one to let fate determine her way.  She is left part of a business along with an airheaded, half alcoholic young man but she straightens him out and together they find a way to save the business by offering new products and focusing on new technologies.  She finds a way to spike her rival's worst schemes against her without retaliating on her level.  Most importantly, she finds a way to honor her parents' biggest secret which involves a family member Astra had never heard of.  Can anything keep her down?

Brianne Moore has written an interesting feminist tale of resourcefulness and ingenuity.  In 1930's England, women of Astra's social class were not business entrepreneurs but instead had rigid social rules to follow.  Readers will be fascinated to read of Astra's transformation.  I listened to this novel and the narrator had exactly the right voice and narration style to match Astra's personality.  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction.