Debutante / The Last Debutantes

I was excited to read The Last Debutantes, by Georgie Blalock, because I loved Anne Melville’s novel Debutante. Both stories are about a group of deb friends from Season before WWII broke out, and I loved reading about how the girls in Debutante saw their lives change, and how they coped with change, and how they turned their social accomplishments into war work. 

In the beginning of The Last Debutantes, Valerie’s Aunt Anne plans to bring her out from 10 Downing Street where her uncle, Neville Chamberlain, is the prime minister. Valerie will have to pretend she’s spent the last few years perfecting her French abroad, not living in poverty with her alcoholic father in France, but if she does well in her Season, she’ll make the right friends and the right match. 

I usually enjoy historical settings, and the clothes, dances, and customs of deb life in this book did not disappoint. All the rituals around the Season are fascinating, although there’s a lot of talk about “that nasty business over in Europe” in between curtsying to the cake or doing the Lambeth Walk. There’s some talk about regiments, about taking up volunteer positions, and a bit too much tragic talk about how everything is ending, but I was disappointed to find the novel ends before we actually see any changes in their lives. 

It doesn’t quite work as a society novel, either, because there aren’t any real consequences or rewards for performing the rituals. No glorious matches made, no dramatic social failures from gossip and scandal.  The takeaways about class and wealth felt a bit trite, too. Somehow Valerie’s coming-of-age discovery that even polished upper-class families can have secrets felt flat and obvious (perhaps because she discovers it so many times). 

I think what worked for me in Debutante was that I went in expecting pretty girls in pretty dresses, and then the story veers from manners and husband-hunting into war. 

The description of The Last Debutantes led me to expect a meaningful story about the end of pretty dresses and the beginning of war (especially with the Downing Street setting!), but it never really delivered, mostly showing more men in uniform at the deb balls. There are ominous hints of war, but the book never quite gets there. 

Overall, although I enjoyed scenes in The Last Debutantes of debs giving their chaperones the slip and sneaking into nightclubs instead, I’d recommend just rereading Debutante instead.