Daughters of the Revolution-Carolyn Cooke

Daughters of the Revolution
Carolyn Cooke
Knopf, Jun 7 2011, $24.95
ISBN: 9780307594730

In 1968 in Cape Wilde, New England, The Goode School welcomes only male offspring of affluent families. As racial and gender barriers are under assault, headmaster Goddard “God” Byrd refuses to allow the other weaker sex entrance to his school.

However, a double shocker occurs through a typo when fifteen years old Negro female Carole Faust receives a scholarship. The school faculty, alumni, family members and students are divided over the brilliant radical girl while God is in a 24/7 rage. At the same time, Goode alumnus Heck Hellman drowns leaving behind his wife Lil and their little girl Ev who no longer meet the school’s economic criteria.

This is a superb historical novel that focuses on the social unrest of the late 1960s with timely comparisons to the present. The cast is powerful as Carolyn Cooke insures the diverse opinions are handled with respect even that of God who may be an anachronism today but not then; as the author avoids caricatures. Satirically mocking the boomers whose good intentions reform has led to an outcome of the greatest economic division ever between the upper class and the rest in this country, Daughters of the Revolution reflects that the social reform movements of a past remain very relevant today.

Harriet Klausner