A student of history : a novel

Resource Information

The work A student of history : a novel represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Manchester City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

A student of history : a novel

Title remainder

a novel

Statement of responsibility

Nina Revoyr

Creator

• Revoyr, Nina, 1969-

Author

• Revoyr, Nina, 1969-

Subject

• Graduate students -- Fiction
• Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction
• Aristocracy (Social class) -- California -- Fiction
• Social classes -- California -- Fiction
• Domestic fiction

Genre

• Fiction
• Domestic fiction

Language

eng

Summary

Rick Nagano is a graduate student in the history department at USC, struggling to make rent on his South Los Angeles apartment near the neighborhood where his family once lived. When he lands a job as a research assistant for the elderly Mrs. W--, the heir to an oil fortune, he sees it first simply as a source of extra cash. But as he grows closer to the iconoclastic, charming, and feisty Mrs. W--, he gets drawn into a world of privilege and wealth far different from his racially mixed, blue-collar beginnings. Putting aside his half-finished dissertation, Rick sets up office in Mrs. W--'s grand Bel Air mansion and begins to transcribe her journals - which document an old Los Angeles not described in his history books. He also accompanies Mrs. W-- to venues frequented by the descendants of the land and oil barons who built the city. One evening, at an event, he meets Fiona Morgan - the elegant scion of an old steel family - who takes an interest in his studies. Irresistibly drawn to Fiona, he agrees to help her with a project of questionable merit in the hopes he'll win her favor. A Student of History explores both the beginnings of Los Angeles and the present-day dynamics of race and class. It offers a window into the usually hidden world of high society, and the influence of historic families on current events. Like Great Expectations and The Great Gatsby, it features, in Rick Nagano, a young man of modest means who is navigating a world where he doesn't belong

Cataloging source

ON8

Dewey number

813/.54

Index

no index present

LC call number

PS3568.E7964

LC item number

S78 2019

Literary form

fiction