It’s happened. The distance. The derision. The whispers behind fans as you pass by. The ton has collectively dismissed you. You’ve been labeled a Wallflower.
It feels devastating. As if you have no future. No opportunity for a good marriage or a decent life. I know, because it happened to me, too.
But allow me to reassure you. It is difficult, it’s true. Sometimes humiliating. Often boring. But believe it or not, there are advantages to be found in a seat at the sides of the ballroom.
--Up to Date Information on the Best Fashions- When you first become a Wallflower, the other young ladies in Society pretend that they cannot see you. Perhaps they don’t wish to be tarnished with the same brush. Perhaps they are simply snobs. But after a short time, it appears that they actually do not see you at all. A Wallflower gains the sort of invisibility otherwise reserved for servants. This means the young ladies will forget and speak in front of you. They will share secrets as if you are not there. A Wallflower hears every envious sigh over a rival’s stunning carriage dress, every dissection of what makes a tasteful day dress, every sneering comment about the unfortunate who chose clashing colors. They hear the whispered recommendations of the very best modistes and conjectures about how much a debutante might have paid for a beauty of a ball gown.
--Unexpected Insight into the Young Gentlemen- A Wallflower is as easily overlooked by the young men of the ton as the young ladies. She quickly learns something no popular young debutante might never understand—young gentlemen gossip quite as much as the women, and with a great deal more interesting detail. Until I could move about a Society event without notice, I had no idea the young bucks brag openly about their romantic prospects and conquests. I never knew they ranked each other according to a complicated equation involving skills with cards, dice, horses, dogs, fists, swords and women. Nor did I understand that they will wager at the drop of a hat over all of those things, as well as over cockroaches, cock fights and which cuckhold will discover his wife’s infidelity first.
--Tips to Turn Your Party into an Unqualified Crush- A hint for you. Simply stand behind a collection of Society’s most popular matrons, or a group of ladies hoping to break into those ranks. You will quickly learn the names of the most talented florists, the specialties of each peeress’s cook, which artist chalks the most impressive ballroom floor, which groups of musicians sound the most elegant and how to tempt reluctant bachelors to your gathering.
--Incredible Knowledge of All the Best Families- The most underused and undervalued group in the ton—even more than the Wallflowers—are the dowagers, spinsters and elderly matrons, sitting forgotten in the back of the room or along the sides of the dance floor. These ladies know everything about everyone. Most can quote Debrett’s without pause. They can spot a fortune hunter at forty paces. Interested in a young man? They can tell you all of his rakish secrets, along with those of his father and grandfather. No family can hide from them, not a lack of funds, a family curse, a run-down estate or an unfortunate tendency to flirt with the footmen. The dowagers know all and tell all.
My advice to you, dear Wallflower, is to make use of these advantages. Do you seek revenge on those who consigned you to the ranks of the unseen, as I do? Then, gather information on your enemy. Identify those who might act as a friend. Listen carefully to the tales of the schemes that have already played out amongst the ton. Learn from the successes and the failures. Make your plans and plot your path out from behind the potted plants and back into the spotlight.
Interested to see if Miss Helen Crawford can rout her own enemy and navigate her road to revenge? Read Letters to a Wallflower, coming May 14, 2024!