Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont

I shan't give a long interdiction, for fear it may bore you to tears. However, I will tell you this was a lovely novel. It was very entertaining and offered quite a bit food for thought, which my head gobbled and was very satisfied. Now, you may enjoy a review in which I hope will thoroughly satisfy you.

Gossip of the Starlings

by Nina de Gramont

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Age Group: 14+*

Perspective: First Person

Movie?: N/A at this time

Overall Rating: *****

*The age group is 14 solely for the mention of drug and alcohol use.

The book is set in 1985, where we meet two girls, Catherine and Skye. Skye Butterfield is senator's daughter, meaning that she is a supposed-to-be goody-goody. For most of her life, she has been, until she begins attending Esther Percy, an all girls private school. There, she meets Catherine. Catherine, a smart, beautiful, and talented equestrian. It would seem that Catherine is also a goody-goody, well, except when she is snorting cocaine with her friends Susannah, Drew, and her boyfriend John Paul. This is where Skye comes in. She no longer wants to be the goody-goody senator's daughter and Catherine is the person to break her free from that. Catherine teaches her the tricks of the trade; how to portion it, snort it, and hide being high. During the school year, they become the best of friends. Later on in the book, it is shown that Skye is a much more dynamic character than one would think. She doesn't want to be perfect, she doesn't want to wear the perfect suite without a thread out of place, she doesn't want her hair to be bound in a tight bun, and she doesn't want people to continue to think she enjoys any of this. However, Catherine wants to take another road and focus more on training and her studies and less on the cocaine. But Skye, wanting to do something seriously rebellious, makes Catherine's choice to be more than mostly clean, almost impossible.

Skye's recklessness and the drugs prove to be a bad combination, and her bad choices lead to even worse consequences.