A Perfect Hand
An intricately told upstairs-downstairs saga with splendid characters ... The book soars with pitch-perfect prose, wit, and insight.
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Sets out to subvert the 19th-century novel—especially its typical marriage plot, in which a delightful heroine, after a series of unfortunate setbacks and misunderstandings, finally walks down the aisle with the hero ... By the time of its breathless ending, A Perfect Hand has done what Eliot warned against in fiction-writing: moving from the 'picture' to the 'diagram,' from wholeness to formula. But this rushed wrap-up aside, Ms. Waldman has written a witty and enjoyable pastiche. I found myself wholly invested in the relationship between the admirable Alice and Charlie, willing them on to walk down the aisle. They were, I was convinced, meant to be together.
A delectable and ingenious subversion of the marriage plot. Deploying slyly surprising characters, confounding predicaments, agile wit, and an exhilarating twist, Waldman offers a pleasurable, purposeful, and moving tale that takes on class and gender biases, the fight for women’s suffrage, love, and transcendent friendship.
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