Sublime

Grace Macaulay, then: seventeen, small and plump, with skin that went brown by the end of May. Her hair was black and oily, and had the hot consoling scent of an animal in summer. She disliked books, and was by nature a thief if she found a thing to be beautiful, but not hers. She didn’t know she couldn’t sing. She was inclined to be cross.

Julia and Avis were cosmopolitan women who traveled widely, read extensively, and moved in diverse political, intellectual, and social circles. They had many acquaintances in common and frequently referred to public figures and friends by their first names or initials.