“Characters — conventional women with minor eccentricities — flourished in our world, as Mrs. Cork had no doubt observed. But she'd failed to notice that the characters were all old, rich and pedigreed. Newcomers, especially those of moderate means, were expected to form an attractive but featureless chorus behind our few madcap divas.”

Source: A Boy's Own Story (1982), Chapter One (p. 14).

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Edmund White 28
American novelist and LGBT essayist 1940

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