5. A Law for the Lion by Louis Auchincloss

My sister gave this quite beat up copy as a gift for xmas.  She and her son had both read it and thought I might enjoy it.  We discussed whether this type of novel was part of a genre, which would also include books like The Best People (which I passed on to her because of the real estate angle).  I think generally these books are what we call today (and perhaps in the past?) "literary fiction", meaning it isn't lofty enough to make it as "literature" but not so low to fall into the gutter of "genre" such as crime and romance.  I like the term "social fiction" in that the story, conflicts and satisfactory resolution take place in the realm of humans interacting socially, especially around class and status.

This is quite an early one, having been written in 1949.  The protagonist is Eloise, a good wife of a successful and climbing lawyer, whose uncle is the even more successful senior partner of their firm.  The initial conflict is the return from Europe of Eloise's wayward and much divorced mother, Irene, who gave up her daughter at a young age to live with her uncle.  She drinks excessively, speaks directly, has "European" values and is constantly at the risk of creating a scandal in this white-shoed New York City, summer house on Long Island community.

Irene only causes a minor scandal but her presence triggers Eloise to examine her own life more aggressively which leads to a friendship with a young author, at first platonic.  We also get a side narrative of her adult stepdaughter, Hilda, as rigid and proper as her father who falls for a charming but too festive lawyer.  It all leads to conflict and then resolution, centered around Eloise taking a stand against her role and the social mores that confine her.  I have to say that I found it very satisfying, with a gentle balance of things going bad and then righting themselves that I was caught up but rarely stressed. There is one harsh but brief scene of adultery exposed by private detectives.  Other than that, everything is dialogue and inner thoughts.

My mother remembered the author's name, so I guess he was fairly well known back in the day.