Inside Manhattan's private school world of fast-paced over-the-top entitlement and superficial gloss lurk many secrets—the secrets of emotionally charged teenage and adult lives. In this eloquent novel set during one class's senior year at the Griffin School, among the queen bees and the wannabes, Michael Avery and Julianne Coopersmith begin a relationship. Their backgrounds are so different—he's beyond privileged and rich, her mother is a writer who drives a cab—but it's the rich boy who ends up being the needy one, with an emotional hole they both believe only Julianne can fill. Their parents are not immune from internal torture either—Michael's mother finds it easier to love her Chinese Crested Hairless than her own child, and Julianne's mother's protective instincts have unexpected consequences. Fast-paced, gently satirical, yet deeply felt, is a poignant and knowing novel.