A Certain Age

Set in Jazz Age Manhattan, the novel interweaves the voices of two women, Theresa Marshall and Sophie Fortescue, whose lives collide through a shared connection to Octavian Rofrano. The story unfolds between January and June of 1922, framed by excerpts from a gossip column covering a murder trial in Connecticut. Written by the pseudonymous "Patty Cake," the columns gradually reveal that the novel's events build toward a courtroom drama involving a wealthy inventor known as the "Patent King," his two daughters, and the violent death of his wife years earlier.

Theresa, a 44-year-old Fifth Avenue socialite, has conducted a passionate affair with Octavian, a 22-year-old former combat pilot. They met at a Fourth of July party on Long Island in 1920, shortly after Octavian returned from flying missions in France. Though he initially refused her advances on principle, a chance reunion at a racetrack broke down his resolve, and they became lovers. Theresa arranged a job for him at the investment firm Sterling Bates while maintaining her marriage to Sylvester Marshall, a polite partnership built on mutual infidelity.

The novel opens on January 2, 1922, when Theresa's brother, Edmund Jay Ochsner, known as Ox or Jay, arrives to announce his engagement to Sophie, a sheltered 19-year-old whose father earns millions from industrial patents. He asks Theresa to find a "cavalier," someone to deliver the family engagement ring to Sophie on his behalf, following an old tradition. Theresa volunteers Octavian, planning to use the errand to investigate the reclusive Fortescue family.

Sophie lives in a modest brownstone on Thirty-Second Street with her father and her older sister, Virginia. Their mother died when Sophie was a baby, and Virginia essentially raised her. Virginia is married to an absent British husband who is supposedly in Florida; his letters have ceased. Sophie's life has been extraordinarily sheltered under her father's strict control, though the family's circumstances changed when his patents generated enormous wealth. Her world opened recently when she met Julie Schuyler, a bold society girl who introduced Sophie to Jay.

When Octavian arrives in full military dress to deliver the ring, Sophie is captivated by his composure. She accepts in a ceremonial rush, saying yes to the cavalier's radiance more than to Jay himself. Over subsequent visits, they discover shared passions for art and mechanics, and an unspoken attraction builds.

Theresa grows jealous. An argument with Octavian exposes fault lines: He accuses her of treating him as a convenience but confesses that she saved him from possible suicide after the war. They reconcile physically, but tension lingers. At a party hosted by Philip Schuyler, Julie's cousin and a lawyer, Jay introduces Sophie to Theresa. That evening, Julie brings Sophie to a speakeasy, where Sophie encounters Octavian. He escorts Sophie home, and they confide in each other about their pasts. He invites her to Connecticut the next morning.

Octavian takes Sophie to his childhood home in Greenwich, a white clapboard house with a turret. Inside, he tells her the previous owner's wife was murdered in the kitchen, and the youngest daughter, about two or three years old, was found beside the body trying to wake her mother. The family vanished afterward. Octavian confesses he kept a newspaper photograph of the girl in his wallet throughout the war, feeling a mysterious bond. Sophie, not realizing she is the girl in the photograph, urges him to find her, convinced they are fated for each other.

That same Saturday, Theresa senses something has shifted in Octavian. He is moody and bristles when she describes Sophie as perfect for Jay. When Theresa returns home, Sylvester announces he wants a divorce to marry his mistress, Adelaide. Reeling, Theresa visits Octavian the following Monday and proposes marriage. He agrees reluctantly. Theresa then warns Jay that Sophie may be wavering and urges him to court her aggressively.

Sophie tries to break off her engagement but cannot overcome her father's authority and Jay's oblivious persistence. She confronts her father, declaring she wants a job, not a wedding. For the first time, Sophie defies him, walks out, and heads to the Christopher Club, a speakeasy near Octavian's apartment. She telephones him, but Theresa answers in a possessive tone. Sophie hangs up, devastated. When Theresa and Octavian arrive at the speakeasy, Theresa introduces herself as his fiancée. Sophie, wounded, throws herself into Jay's arms when he arrives, publicly accepting her engagement.

The gossip columns reveal that Mr. Fortescue is actually Montague Charles Faninal, who vanished from Greenwich 16 years earlier after his wife's murder. Octavian, who grew up in the same house, recognizes Faninal and gathers evidence but chooses not to report his suspicions, fearing the consequences for Sophie and Virginia.

Theresa throws an extravagant engagement party in February. Sophie seizes the conductor's baton to announce she is breaking off the engagement and pursuing engineering. Before she can finish, a gunshot echoes down the corridor, and the events of that night propel the Faninal case into public view.

After Faninal's trial and conviction, Octavian takes Sophie flying over Manhattan from Roosevelt Field, a civilian airfield on Long Island where he has been designing airplanes. The experience is transformative. He confesses he loves her but feels bound to Theresa by obligation. They share their first kiss, but he drives her home, telling her Theresa expects him for dinner.

Theresa investigates the case independently, visiting Giuseppe Magnifico, the gardener who had an affair with Mrs. Faninal, and then Virginia, who confesses she witnessed her father embrace the kitchen maid as a child and has carried suspicions ever since. When Faninal escapes from jail, Octavian drives Sophie to the Pickwick Arms Hotel in Greenwich. In the elevator, Sophie is seized by terror when Mr. Lumley, the husband of the former kitchen maid, offers her peppermint candy, triggering a buried childhood memory.

In the hotel suite, Theresa has been questioning Mrs. Lumley, the former kitchen maid who had testified at the trial, when the escaped Faninal arrives, wanting only to see his daughters one last time. Lumley enters with a revolver, intending to kill Faninal and frame it as self-defense. When Sophie intervenes, Lumley turns the gun on her. At the sight of his cold eyes, Sophie recognizes him as the man from the kitchen on the morning of her mother's murder 16 years earlier. Her father throws himself in front of her and takes the bullet, dying instantly. Octavian crashes through the door and shoots Lumley dead.

Mrs. Lumley's confession reveals the full truth: Lumley seduced the kitchen maid and devised a blackmail scheme targeting Faninal. When Mrs. Faninal discovered the plot, Lumley murdered her, then told Faninal the maid had killed his wife accidentally. Faninal, consumed by guilt, took his daughters and disappeared. He never testified or claimed innocence because he was protecting the woman he had loved.

Theresa releases Octavian, knowing he belongs with Sophie. She keeps her pregnancy with his child secret, her private consolation. It is revealed that Theresa has been "Patty Cake" all along, and she writes the final column breaking the true story. Sylvester arrives at the Marshall estate after Adelaide has abandoned him and tentatively suggests reconciliation. Theresa places her hand on her stomach, implying she will tell him about the pregnancy.

Sophie and Octavian elope outside Philadelphia and drive toward California, where he plans to start an airplane company with Sophie as his partner. Along the way, they hold memorial services for his fallen comrades. In Oklahoma, under a sky of stars, Sophie writes about the words they exchange each night: "Wife" and "Husband," which contain all their vows. Octavian carries her back to bed, and they settle into sleep, bound for their new life.