After Miss de Vine has given her what sounds suspiciously like dating advice. Idk, I’m going with the first explanation. Or possibly some srs bsns reason about morality. Anyway, it seems like one of the dons doesn’t like detecting-for-fun and Harriet gets kinda antsy about it, since she doesn’t like people being mean about poor Peter, even if she won’t admit it. It’s almost like she’s in a book series about him or something.

But the most Miss S-S has to say is “OMG PETER WIMSEY ISN’T HE GREAT?”Īfter dinner, Harriet is once again subjected to HAVING TO TALK ABOUT PETER. Someone ~hilariously American~ appears who is the only one of these students who appears after the first few chapters so PAY ATTENTION EVERYONE. Harriet and Phoebe bond over the horrendousness of everyone else over dinner. Ngl, on first read I glazed over for a lot of this.

We get introduced to more dons and more students. Unfortunately for Harriet, she and her BFF no longer have a lot in common, and it’s all pretty awkward until she RUNS THE HELL AWAY to talk with ANYONE ELSE, ANYONE PLEASE. She then decides she is, in fact, the best dressed there and mentally insults what half the others are wearing. Yes, I’m sure I could make this all sound like a bad high school related drama if I wanted, but I should probably be nicer to Oxford.Īnyway, our intrepid heroine puts on a brave face, reveling in not being a student anymore and drinking and driving ( half a bottle of wine? jfc Harriet YOU CAN TAKE YOUR BOOZE). It turns out she was BFFs with one of the popular kids. Our story begins with our intrepid heroine, who clearly feels she hasn’t had enough to angst about the last few years so has decided to attend her High School reunion college’s Gaudy. Chapters 1-2: in which we meet a whole host of complicated characters talking about complicated things.

Book gaudy night