A Wife of Noble Character: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
A juicy, sprawling comedy of manners about a group of thirtysomethings navigating friendship, love, and their fledgling careers among Houston's high-powered, oil-money elite
Thirty-year-old Vivienne Cally is wealthy in name only. Orphaned as a child and raised by a cold but regal aunt, Vivienne was taught to rely on her beauty and Texas tradition, and is expected to marry a wealthy and respectable man who will honor the Cally name. Friends with Houston's richest and most prominent families, she's a beloved fixture at the social events big and small, and suffers no shortage of access to some of the city's most eligible bachelors. Preston Duffin has known Vivienne and her set since childhood. He's never shared their social aspirations or their status but is liked and respected for his sharp wit and intelligence. About to graduate from a prestigious architecture program, he is both fascinated and repelled by this group of friends he sits on the cusp of. He's long admired Vivienne's beauty and grace, but isn't sure he holds any place in such a traditional life. Intrigued by Preston's ambitions and the extent to which he challenges the only way of life she's ever known, Vivienne both courts Preston's attention, and rebuffs his critiques of her predictable and antiquated priorities and values. Inspired by Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, Yvonne Georgina Puig's A Wife of Noble Character shares the original novel's astute social commentary at the same time that it illuminates the trappings and rewards of coming of age that are wholly unique to the twenty-first century. Charming and shrewd at once, this Texas love story takes readers from Houston to Paris and Switzerland and back again, and will speak to both fans of Wharton and anyone who has every struggled to find their way in life.
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
Yvonne Georgina Puig. (2016). A Wife of Noble Character: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Yvonne Georgina Puig. 2016. A Wife of Noble Character: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Yvonne Georgina Puig, A Wife of Noble Character: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co, 2016.
MLA Citation (style guide)Yvonne Georgina Puig. A Wife of Noble Character: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co, 2016.
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 0 | 0 |
OverDrive Product Record
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/2390-1/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/2390-1/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/2390-1/58E/60F/57/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/2390-1/58E/60F/57/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- formats
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781627795562
- name: Adobe EPUB eBook
- id: ebook-epub-adobe
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: ASIN
- value: B01AGIOEQQ
- name: Kindle Book
- id: ebook-kindle
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781627795562
- name: OverDrive Read
- id: ebook-overdrive
- identifiers:
- otherFormatIdentifiers
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781627795555
- mediaType
- eBook
- primaryCreator
- role: Author
- name: Yvonne Georgina Puig
- isOwnedByCollections
- False
- title
- A Wife of Noble Character
- dateAdded
- 2016-07-29T02:34:47.113Z
- contentDetails
- href: https://link.overdrive.com?websiteID=141&titleID=2552603
- type: text/html
- account:
- name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
- id: 1151
- sortTitle
- Wife of Noble Character A Novel
- crossRefId
- 2552603
- subtitle
- A Novel
- id
- 58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D
- starRating
- 2.8
OverDrive MetaData
- isPublicDomain
- False
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/2390-1/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/2390-1/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/2390-1/58E/60F/57/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/2390-1/58E/60F/57/{58E60F57-9101-4396-957F-68CA1FA8A56D}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- isPublicPerformanceAllowed
- False
- formats
- fileName: WifeofNobleCharacterANovel9781627795562
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 603037
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781627795562
- rights:
- type: Copying
- value: 0
- type: Printing
- value: 0
- type: Lending
- value: 0
- type: ReadAloud
- value: 0
- type: ExpirationRights
- value: 0
- name: Adobe EPUB eBook
- id: ebook-epub-adobe
- onSaleDate: 08/02/2016
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=58e60f57-9101-4396-957f-68ca1fa8a56d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- fileName: WifeofNobleCharacterANovel9781627795562
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 0
- identifiers:
- type: ASIN
- value: B01AGIOEQQ
- name: Kindle Book
- id: ebook-kindle
- onSaleDate: 08/02/2016
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=58e60f57-9101-4396-957f-68ca1fa8a56d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- fileName: WifeofNobleCharacterANovel9781627795562
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 603175
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781627795562
- name: OverDrive Read
- id: ebook-overdrive
- onSaleDate: 08/02/2016
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=58e60f57-9101-4396-957f-68ca1fa8a56d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- languages
- code: en
- name: English
- keywords
- value: women
- creators
- role: Author
- fileAs: Puig, Yvonne Georgina
- bioText: Yvonne Georgina Puig's fiction and essays have appeared in Salon, Variety, Los Angeles Magazine, and The Texas Observer, among others. She holds a Masters in Professional Writing from USC. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband.
- name: Yvonne Georgina Puig
- subjects
- value: Classic Literature
- value: Fiction
- value: Literature
- publishDate
- 2016-08-02T00:00:00-04:00
- publishDateText
- 08/02/2016
- mediaType
- eBook
- shortDescription
A juicy, sprawling comedy of manners about a group of thirtysomethings stumbling into adulthood among Houston's high-powered, oil money elite
Thirty-year-old Vivienne Cally is wealthy in name only. Orphaned as a child and raised by a cold but regal aunt,Vivienne was taught to rely on her beauty and Texas tradition, and is expected to marry a wealthy and respectable man who will honor the Cally name. Friends with Houston's richest and most prominent families, she's a beloved fixture at the social events big and small, and suffers no shortage of access to some of the city's most eligible bachelors. Preston Duffin has known Vivienne and her set since childhood. He's never shared their social aspirations or their status but is liked and respected for his sharp wit and intelligence. About to graduate from a prestigious architecture program, he is both fascinated and repelled by this group of friends he sits on the cusp of, one that shares none of his curiosity...
- isOwnedByCollections
- True
- title
- A Wife of Noble Character
- fullDescription
A juicy, sprawling comedy of manners about a group of thirtysomethings navigating friendship, love, and their fledgling careers among Houston's high-powered, oil-money elite
Thirty-year-old Vivienne Cally is wealthy in name only. Orphaned as a child and raised by a cold but regal aunt, Vivienne was taught to rely on her beauty and Texas tradition, and is expected to marry a wealthy and respectable man who will honor the Cally name. Friends with Houston's richest and most prominent families, she's a beloved fixture at the social events big and small, and suffers no shortage of access to some of the city's most eligible bachelors. Preston Duffin has known Vivienne and her set since childhood. He's never shared their social aspirations or their status but is liked and respected for his sharp wit and intelligence. About to graduate from a prestigious architecture program, he is both fascinated and repelled by this group of friends he sits on the cusp of. He's long admired Vivienne's beauty and grace, but isn't sure he holds any place in such a traditional life. Intrigued by Preston's ambitions and the extent to which he challenges the only way of life she's ever known, Vivienne both courts Preston's attention, and rebuffs his critiques of her predictable and antiquated priorities and values. Inspired by Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, Yvonne Georgina Puig's A Wife of Noble Character shares the original novel's astute social commentary at the same time that it illuminates the trappings and rewards of coming of age that are wholly unique to the twenty-first century. Charming and shrewd at once, this Texas love story takes readers from Houston to Paris and Switzerland and back again, and will speak to both fans of Wharton and anyone who has every struggled to find their way in life.- sortTitle
- Wife of Noble Character A Novel
- crossRefId
- 2552603
- reviews
- premium: False
- source: Marie Claire
- content:
"A fun take on Edith Wharton's classic."
- premium: False
- source: Refinery29
- content: "A Wife of Noble Character is equal parts wry social commentary and heart-fluttering romance -- an insightful journey for both the head and the heart."
- premium: False
- source: Elle.com
- content: "This sharply drawn novel about Houston's oil-money elite strikes a beautiful balance--rollicking at times while deeply felt at others."
- premium: False
- source: Book Riot
- content: "A compelling and complicated love story...The characters hearken back to Wharton's while still not feeling like archetypes, and the interior narration matches the introspective style of Wharton's writing."
- premium: False
- source: Texas Monthly
- content: "A Wife of Noble Character possesses something that is intrinsically Houstonian: a sense of humor. . . Apparently, no matter how far you move, Houston sticks with you; Puig has the local milieu down cold."
- premium: False
- source: Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander and Paint it Black
- content: "In this vivid, socially acute novel of manners set in oil-money Houston society, Yvonne Puig charms us with prose and braces us with insight--a masterful, sharp-eyed and eloquent debut."
- premium: False
- source: Sarah Bird, author of Above the East China Sea
- content: "A fresh, funny look at what it means to be an adult in the 21st century and a juicy Texan comedy of manners, at its heart, A Wife of Noble Character is a good old fashioned love story."
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
June 20, 2016
Inspired by The House of Mirth, Puig’s debut repositions Wharton’s Gilded Age classic in modern-day Houston. There, orphaned Vivienne Cally, although the most beautiful of her set, is largely dependent on the generosity of her frenemies to maintain the appearance and lifestyle necessary to snag a wealthy husband. But Vivienne is now in her 30s, her friends are marrying off, and she’s starting to harbor doubts—prompted largely by her friendship with the idealistic architecture student Preston Duffin—about whether she even wants to continue participating in the kind of society that values conspicuous displays of wealth above substance. Narrated alternately from Vivienne and Preston’s points of view, the novel offers numerous insights into the process of arriving at adulthood, the realization that the choices made in one’s 30s have real consequences and may largely define the rest of one’s life. Fans of Wharton’s original will likely most appreciate the ways in which Puig updates her heroine’s inner conflicts to remain relevant in a present-day setting where college-educated women’s fates are (at least in theory) no longer bound to their marriage prospects. Others may find the social satire thin, frequently interrupted by lengthy debates about personal integrity as well as by so-called scandals that ultimately fail to scandalize.
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
June 1, 2016
How will it turn out for modern-day Texan Vivienne Cally, modeled on the tragic heroine of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, after she loses both her income and her overprivileged circle of friends?Maintaining the lifestyle of an oil heiress, popular, buoyant, beautiful Vivienne hangs out with a wealthy crowd in an upscale Houston neighborhood and shares many of her friends' preoccupations, especially money and marriage. But though she carries the name of Cally Petroleum, Vivienne doesn't actually possess a fortune, so a lot hangs on her expectations of Bucky Lawland, her traditional, grotesquely selfish, wealthy boyfriend, deemed by everyone to be "a catch." The appearance of sincere but much-less-moneyed trainee architect Preston Duffin tilts the reader's expectations toward the territory of commercial fiction, yet Puig's intention in her debut is larger, drawing comparisons between the crushing social norms of early-20th-century New York and the narrow horizons of an insulated, contemporary Texan elite. Like Lily Bart, the doomed heroine of Wharton's novel, Vivienne's trajectory heads downward after she offends Bucky by urging her own sexual preferences over his, lurches from one misunderstanding to another with Preston, and quits what had seemed like a good job. Puig's serious ambitions for her novel--considerations of place, independence, the role of the wife in marriage--conflict with its shape throughout, never more so than when, after a taste of reality, she propels Vivienne back toward dream-come-true opportunities and romance. The result is an uneasy, archly expressed hybrid: a conventional love story with issues. Inconsistent in tone and orientation, this novel bears comparison with its own heroine, "lovely and curious and a bit confused."COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
April 15, 2016
Vivienne Cally is a stunning 31-year-old woman whose circle of friends includes members of prominent Houston families. Living among wealthy peers makes it difficult for Vivienne to exist on the modest wages she earns and the meager allowance from her emotionally distant aunt. Family and friends expect her to marry a rich and respectable man, even though she often finds her choices repellent. She is popular and welcome, but high society events are expensive, and Vivienne scrambles to keep up appearances. Since childhood, she has known Preston Duffin, a struggling architect who is generally accepted among this crowd but has no desire to join them. He is, however, fascinated with Vivienne, and their relationship both simmers with attraction and fades with discouragement. A divergent path to Paris and Switzerland leads back to Texas where Vivienne faces some of life's hardest lessons as she learns the importance of satisfying work, solid friendships, and genuine love. VERDICT Filled with keen social commentary, this debut novel is an inspired reimagining of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. More than a century later, the theme still echoes that in women's relationships, there is too high a cost to not staying true to oneself.--Gloria Drake, Oswego P.L. Dist., IL
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- subtitle
- A Novel
- popularity
- 114
- publisher
- Henry Holt and Co.
- links
- self:
- href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/58e60f57-9101-4396-957f-68ca1fa8a56d/metadata
- type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
- self:
- id
- 58e60f57-9101-4396-957f-68ca1fa8a56d
- starRating
- 2.8
