Just Like a Lady — Nina Bawden

Lucy's trouble is that the exercise of her ambition is trammelled by the letter, though not the spirit, of such contemporary morality as has been distilled to her. Quite intelligent and attractive enough to get on under her own steam, her desire to live in a manner she is not accustomed to and her fascinated preoccupation with the 'marvellous secret society' of rich and educated people, side-track her into some very false moves, such as her marriage with the unspeakable Jebb.

With good writing, exact observation and easy invention, Nina Bawden provides a cool and humorous commentary on society as it was.