Deceit and betrayal abound in this tale by first-time novelist Francesca Segal. Drawing upon Edith Wharton’s 1921 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Age of Innocence, Segal spins a tale of upper-middle class London Jews behaving badly.
Twenty-eight year old Adam Newman is preparing to marry Rachel Gilbert, who has played loyal girlfriend to his faithful breadwinner ever since they met on a teen tour to Israel twelve years ago. The two are flush with excitement and good wishes on their new engagement when Rachel’s orphaned cousin, Ellie Schneider, returns to Temple Fortune, their close-knit suburban London community. Tongues wag as Ellie, a statuesque blond wild child booted from her writing program at Columbia University for starring in an adult film, is folded back into the Gilberts’ social circuit.
But it’s Adam’s tongue that matters most, as he soon finds he cannot control the love he begins to feel for Rachel’s cousin, a love that threatens to unravel his engagement and his coveted status in the Gilbert family.
The Innocents bobs and weaves as Adam tries to remain in love with Rachel, ultimately winding up in a surprising place. It’s an exciting journey filled with villains and victims, but one that readers should be glad to watch from a distance.
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