NOT OUR KIND

1947, New York City. Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy collide quite by chance, in a taxi accident--but it seems fated. Eleanor, a teacher, needs a new job. Patricia's daughter Margaux, recovering from polio, needs a private tutor.

Eleanor and Patricia, who come from different worlds, are drawn to each other as kindred spirits. When the Bellamys bring Eleanor to their summer home in Connecticut, in a restricted community, it seems easy enough for Eleanor to shorten her last name to Moss and try to fit into their social circle. And it seems to work, as Eleanor strengthens her bond with Margaux and begins a romance with Patricia's bohemian brother, Tom. Then a heinous crime exposes the limits of assimilation.

With echoes of both Gentleman's Agreement and The Rules of Civility, NOT OUR KIND asks what friendship means--and how far it goes--in a world that disdains outsiders.

Kitty Zeldis, a native New Yorker, lives in Brooklyn. NOT OUR KIND is her first novel.