The Buccaneers [Paperback]

Edith Wharton (Author), Marion Mainwaring (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 1, 1994

Set in the 1870s, the same period as Wharton's The Age of Innocence, The Buccaneers is about five wealthy American girls denied entry into New York Society because their parents' money is too new. At the suggestion of their clever governess, the girls sail to London, where they marry lords, earls, and dukes who find their beauty charming—and their wealth extremely useful.

After Wharton's death in 1937, The Christian Science Monitor said, "If it could have been completed, The Buccaneers would doubtless stand among the richest and most sophisticated of Wharton's novels." Now, with wit and imagination, Marion Mainwaring has finished the story, taking her cue from Wharton's own synopsis. It is a novel any Wharton fan will celebrate and any romantic reader will love. This is the richly engaging story of Nan St. George and guy Thwarte, an American heiress and an English aristocrat, whose love breaks the rules of both their societies.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mainwaring commendably completes Wharton's unfinished novel about five wealthy American women seeking entrance into elite society by marrying British aristocrats.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Wharton's final novel (completed by Marion Mainwaring after the author's death in 1937) revolves around American and British society in the 1870s. Told in large part through the eyes of American debutantes, the story portrays innocent, wide-eyed, almost ethereal girls who turn into socially conscious women with financial worries--unrecognizable even to themselves. The beginning sections quickly catch the listener's attention, with lush descriptions of rooms, clothes, and the heights of feminine beauty. We enter a world of intrigue: secrets, characters with past relationships that could prove fatal, and competition taken to its limits. Its literary value notwithstanding, this book might appeal to soap opera and romance fans. For more attentive listeners, it quickly becomes disconcerting as more and more characters with awkward British-sounding names are added. It's increasingly difficult to recall who's who without backing up the tape. Most libraries can pass on this one.
- Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140232028
• ISBN-13: 978-0140232028
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.1 x 7.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, compelling characters. May 6, 1997

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Most of us know Edith Wharton either through
reading Ethan Frome in high school, or having
seen The Age of Innocence at the movie

theater. While she is best know for these works
they are dim in tone and portray the oppressive
nature of society.

In The Buccaneers, Wharton presents us with a group
of young women who have been rejected by
late 19th Century NY society, and journey to
England in search of husbands. Each of the
characters in fully drawn, and while Wharton
maintains her description of society as oppressive, she
counters this with the idealism and hope
of her brave young women and societal rules that with time are changing.
These women for the most part strive
to attain happiness, and unlike Wharton's
other principal characters, do acheive it.
This is probably the only Wharton novel
to end on a note of happiness and hope.
Combined with the richly drawn backdrop of 19th
century English & American society, it makes
for an enchanting and provocative read.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars American Beauties Seek British Titles/Brits Seek American $$ June 28, 2003

By Jana L. Perskie HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Edith Wharton's last novel opens at the height of the racing season in Saratoga, NY, in 1876. Here America's 'nouveau riche' women gather; mothers and daughters who have been shunned by the elite, 'old money' society, scheme to marry their girls into the British aristocracy. Four beautiful young women become fast friends, as they dream and scheme together of potential suitors and titles in far off England. An English woman, unmarried and sophisticated, is hired to instruct the four friends in 'all that is necessary' to be successfully presented into British society. The girls' quest is most certainly not an impossible one. Many eligible, young aristocrats are short of funds necessary to keep up their vast estates. They are more than willing to marry American money, especially when wrapped in a beautiful, charming package, which will allow them to live in the style to which they are accustomed.

The story is told through the eyes, and from the hearts, of these young debutantes - wide-eyed, innocent and full of fun and American energy. Their longed-for entry into English society, and their subsequent marriages, joys and disappointments, as well as their strong, never waning, friendship for each other, is chronicled here with fascinating detail. The world of their childish fantasies is not the world of reality, as romance fades and financial worries, marital infidelities and lost love take the place of past dreams. They each struggle with the conflict between individual and social fulfillment, repressed sexuality, and the manners and mores of Britain's 'old families.' They discover secrets that were kept from them during courtship - intrigues, and hidden, devastating character flaws in their matrimonial choices.

Edith Wharton's descriptions of the wonderful American and British settings - the gorgeous countryside, great homes and extravagant furnishings, lavish clothing and courtship rites are remarkable. Each of the four young women have much in common, although their characters are quite different. Part of the glory of this novel is Wharton's development of her characters and their growth, as the young women mature with time and experience. The lesser characters are vividly drawn and complex. Her portrayal of the conflict between the American old society and the immense wealth of the newly rich robber barons and their socially ambitious wives, is an accurate and compelling glimpse of our past.

I know that Edith Wharton died before completing this extraordinary novel. I could wish, along with thousands of others, I am sure, that she had been allowed to live long enough to complete this masterpiece. However, Marion Mainwaring's conclusion does not diminish my immense enjoyment of the book in the least.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Ravishing "Buccaneers" March 11, 2005

By E. A Solinas HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

It's an unfortunate fact that any prolific author is going to leave a half-finished book behind them. And when Edith Wharton died in 1937, she left a partly-finished novel, "The Buccaneers," which was later finished by Marion Mainwaring. Unfortunately, Mainwaring couldn't equal Wharton's style, and the resulting book is a bit too rough to be excellent.

The St. George family is wealthy and cultured, but since they are "new money," haughty Virginia and childlike, passionate Nan are excluded from New York society. Nan's governess offers an alternative: the girls and three other snubbed debutantes will spend a season in England, where the newness of their money won't matter. The girls all jump at the opportunity (especially with handsome young aristos running around).

England's aristocracy greets them with both suspicion and delight: Most people love the honest, innocent attitude of the American girls. But when Virginia becomes engaged to a mild-mannered aristocrat, some people see the Americans as "stealing" eligible Englishmen. Meanwhile, Nan has fallen in love with an impoverished aristocrat, but she has some growing up to do first...

Okay, nobody expected Wharton's manuscript to simply sit there, unfinished. It's not very satisfying, for one thing. But "The Buccaneers" doesn't quite work as a Wharton novel. Don't worry, it's a fun read with glimmers of Wharton's wit and societal observation. She just took the story across the pond to England.

The problem is that Marion Mainwaring doesn't write like Wharton. She writes like someone TRYING to write like Wharton, and so her style and characterizations seem very exaggerated at times. Fortunately she only wrote about thirty percent of the book (based on Wharton's original synopsis) and so most of the book has Wharton's flavor.

Not that the Wharton sections are quite perfect either -- since the book was unfinished, some parts of it have a "second draft" feel. And her sharp observations feel dulled here. But it accurately captures Wharton's preoccupation with Victorian propriety, manners, and the delicate social structure around old New York. Not to mention a dash of Henry James, with the stories of American innocents abroad.

The concept of new vs. old money was a big deal in the 1870s, especially since it eventually overturned the old social order. Wharton populated her novel with wide-eyed (and sometimes loudmouthed) American girls, and impoverished young dukes and earls who are trying to keep the crumbling old estates going. Wharton also spiced up the cast with flamboyant mistresses, amnesiac noblemen, and a prim governess who happens to be the cousin of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Edith Wharton left a promising book behind her when she died, and fortunately "The Buccaneers" was given passable treatment by Marion Mainwaring. It's too rough to be among Wharton's best, but this flawed novel is still a fun read.