The Luxe starts off with the death of the young, beautiful , society girl Elizabeth Holland. It’s 19th century Manhattan, and Elizabeth was engaged to marry society’s most eligible bachelor, Henry Schoonmaker. The story is a flashback showing the reader all the events that led up to Elizabeth’s death. Secrets are revealed that show Elizabeth’s real life, not the one everyone thought she had.
When Elizabeth learns her family is broke, she agrees to marry Henry in order to keep their high rank in society. But Elizabeth’s heart really belongs to her poor coachman, Will. Meanwhile Henry is in love with Diana, Elizabeth’s little sister and Penelope, Elizabeth’s best friend is in love with Henry. On top of that Elizabeth’s maid, Lina is in love with Will. As you can see it’s quite a complicated love triangle. Despite the time period, the inner conflicts that these characters face are modern.
Elizabeth is a proper, prim, perfect society girl. She spends her days drinking tea and attending dress fittings. She tries to be pleasant but she isn’t very likeable. Elizabeth whines and complains about everything. Elizabeth complains about how she has to marry Henry but accepts his proposal. She imagines running off with Will, but when he leaves for California she doesn’t follow him. She gossips about her maid’s behavior and her sister’s inappropriate actions. But she doesn’t do anything about any of it. She doesn’t take control of her life or do things to make it better. Almost everything in the book revolves around Elizabeth, but she is a nothing. I even think Elizabeth faked her death in order to avoid being disowned by her mother and publicly disgraced by her best friend. Elizabeth doesn’t make decisions, she takes the easy way out.
Although I wish Elizabeth would take action and do what she needs to do, even if it causes others to be unhappy, I can empathize with her because she’s in a tough situation. She struggles with her own desires including running off with Will but also cares about her family’s welfare and her own social image that she’s worked so hard to make perfect. Although I don’t live in 19th century upper society and I’m not faced with being disowned by my mother or publicly humiliated by my best friend, I too struggle with my own wishes, duties, and sense of self. Sometimes I don’t want to decide between these competing things that may hurt myself or others but I want to be true to myself and be a good person and be happy. I think this is what Elizabeth wants as well. She wants to be with Will, take care of her family and still be looked upon highly. But instead Elizabeth may be dead, her family poor, and a tragedy to upper society.
We all have to make hard decisions among competing interests whether we live in upper class 19th century Manhattan, or in middle class present day Brooklyn. Inner conflicts remain the same, and we must take our lives into our own hands and make decisions, even if it doesn’t please everyone, for ourselves.
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