The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt

Despite its brevity (about the length of a New Yorker article), The English Understand Wool provoked plenty of conversation at book club.

Marguerite is raised in Marrakech by her French mother to appreciate the finer things in life from art and music to couture clothing and superior hotels. “Maman” expects the best, and her expectations are fair but exacting. In her mother’s view, behavior that is mauvais ton (bad taste or bad form) is the most egregious offense, trumping crimes that the rest of us would consider truly egregious such as fraud, theft, or kidnaping, for example. The poised, highly accomplished, and beautifully dressed Marguerite is never guilty of mauvais ton.

When Marguerite’s carefully curated world falls apart, it will be seen whether mauvais ton as a guiding principle is sufficient for survival in a more prosaic world.

“In England, at any rate, it is important to ride as though one had been riding from the age of five, or rather it is important if one is invited to a country house, and the simplest method is, of course, to be taught to ride at the age of five.”

An excentric but compelling novella.