 |
An Uncommon Education
|
A young woman tries to save three people she loves in this elegant and
remarkably insightful coming-of-age debut.
Afraid of losing her parents at a young age—her father with his weak heart,
her deeply depressed mother—Naomi Feinstein prepared single-mindedly for a
prestigious future as a doctor. An outcast at school, Naomi loses herself in
books, and daydreams of Wellesley College. But when Teddy, her confidant and
only friend, abruptly departs from her life, it's the first devastating loss
from which Naomi is not sure she can ever recover, even after her long-awaited
acceptance letter to Wellesley arrives.
Naomi soon learns that college isn't the bastion of solidarity and security
she had imagined. Amid hundreds of other young women, she is consumed by
loneliness—until the day she sees a girl fall into the freezing waters of a
lake.
The event marks Naomi's introduction to Wellesley's oldest honor society, the
mysterious Shakespeare Society, defined by secret rituals and filled with
unconventional, passionate students. Naomi finally begins to detach from the
past and so much of what defines her, immersing herself in this exciting and
liberating new world and learning the value of friendship. But her happiness is
soon compromised by a scandal that brings irrevocable consequences. Naomi has
always tried to save the ones she loves, but part of growing up is learning that
sometimes saving others is a matter of saving yourself.
An Uncommon Education is a compelling portrait of a quest for
greatness and the grace of human limitations. Poignant and wise, it artfully
captures the complicated ties of family, the bittersweet inevitability of loss,
and the importance of learning to let go.
