A Bright Young Thing by Brianne Moore

1930s England must have been a very difficult time for young women who had a yen for independence. They had a peak at it during WWI, got all their freedom taken back at the end of it and were expected to go back to a Victorian age. The plight that befell Astra Davies was similar. Her parents dying in a freak accident, her taken in by an unwilling Aunt, no monies available for survival and no skills at all for her to survive on her own. Astra realized soon after the death of her parents that things were really bad. The only way out, as touted by her Aunt was a rich marriage. Suitors were there in plenty but on Astra's side she had to hide the fact that she was almost destitute. What she thought was a comfortable living was a lie, her father had invested badly had lost it all. When Astra realized that she had been living in a coccoon, she took the reins into her own hands and tried to slowly uncover the secrets her parents had hidden from her, in a foolish bid of protection. From discovering a simple minded young man, purported to be her brother in an institute, to fraudulent withdrawal of monies due to her by her lawyer, her own Aunt's hand in witholding information and a virulent, psychopathic jealous woman amongst her circle who is ready to destroy Astra's reputation in anyway possible to get rid of her from the social scene. The last was the vituperative bit and unimaginable to what lengths a jealous woman would go to bring down a rival. It was fascinating reading and as the story unfolds the importance of "what will society say" seems paramount for society at the time and anything and everything was done to maintain one's position just so. Very descriptive of the times, very descriptive of the main characters in this story this was a really interesting book to read. Sent by Alcove Press for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.