A review by ajcousins
The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton

5.0

Brilliant, and much less depressing than many of Wharton's books. That may be because she didn't finish this manuscript, and the contemporary author who does (Marion Mainwaring) manages to get a happy ending in for at least a couple of the characters, although not all. This may not be Wharton-like (I usually feel like overdosing on laudanum when I finish one of her books), but I don't care. The writing is seamless--I absolutely could not tell the difference between the original Wharton and the final chapters written by Mainwaring--and the book as a whole is brilliant. Four young American girls, the buccaneers, who can't quite scramble up to the highest level of New York Society in the 1870s, sail to London and take England by storm. Very biting commentary on all sorts of levels, but also very fun.