B.F.'s Daughter

by John P. Marquand

The daughter of a powerful industrialist seeks to live on her own terms in this entertaining portrait of the American home front during World War II

Polly Fulton, the daughter of one of America’s most successful and admired businessmen, lives with her parents and brother in a thirty-room apartment on New York City’s Park Avenue. Yet she despises the superficial trappings of wealth and delights in defying convention. In the months before America enters World War II, she shocks her family and friends by dumping her longtime boyfriend, Bob Tasmin, and marrying radical journalist Tom Brett.

As the war rages on the other side of the globe and dominates the thoughts of everyone at home, Polly comes to realize that she acted out of pride and contrariness, not love. But with Bob stationed in Guam, it may be too late to correct her terrible mistake.

A richly detailed, elegantly crafted tale about the search for happiness in the chaos of wartime, B.F.’s Daughter is one of John P. Marquand’s warmest and most empathetic novels.

Genres: Fiction, Coming Of Age, Historical Fiction, American

439 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Pulitzer Prize for Novel in 1938 for The Late George Apley

John Phillips Marquand (November 10, 1893 – July 16, 1960) was an American writer. Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Late George Apley in 1938. One of his abiding themes was the confining nature of life in America's upper class and among those who aspired to join it. Marquand treated those whose lives were bound by these unwritten codes with a characteristic mix of respect and satire.

By the mid-1930s he was a prolific and successful writer of fiction for slick magazines like the Saturday Evening Post. Some of these short stories were of an historical nature as had been Marquand's first two novels (The Unspeakable Gentleman and The Black Cargo). These would later be characterized by Marquand as “costume fiction”, of which he stated that an author “can only approximate (his characters) provided he has been steeped in the (relevant) tradition”. Marquand had abandoned “costume fiction” by the mid-1930s.

In the late-1930s, Marquand began producing a series of novels on the dilemmas of class, most centered on New England. The first of these, The Late George Apley (1937), a satire of Boston's upper class, won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1938. Other Marquand novels exploring New England and class themes include Wickford Point (1939), H.M. Pulham, Esquire (1941), and Point of No Return (1949). The last is especially notable for its satirical portrayal of Harvard anthropologist W. Lloyd Warner, whose Yankee City study attempted (and in Marquand's view, dismally failed) to describe and analyze the manners and mores of Marquand's Newburyport

Reviews

[Always Pouting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Polly Fulton's father is a powerful industrialist who spoils her, yet she's unhappy with the conventional trappings of wealth. The story starts out with Polly visiting her father on his death bed as he tells her he doesn't think she made the right decision in her marriage. Polly who has been having the same doubts agrees and that conversation she can't get Bob, the man her father wanted her to marry, out of her head. Her husband Tom is a journalist and with the war going on is away from her constantly causing the marriage to become strained. Polly questions why she chose Tom over Bob and wonders if she should be with Bob instead.

The book is apparently a satire about America at this time period, though I personally didn't get it which might just be because I'm not that clever or know enough about the era. I did enjoy the writing but I found all the war happenings very boring. Honestly war is boring to read about and so every time the book went into current day Bob's perspective while in the army I wanted to sigh melodramatically. It also felt a little dragged out especially everything being told about the current time, the flashbacks to Bob and Polly's childhood were much more amusing to read. Overall an okay read but nothing to write home about.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book intrigued me because of its perspective--- it is a Great Depression and WW2 era novel --- not an historical novel, but a novel written in 1946. That gives it a decidedly different tone than novels written today, but set in the 30's or 40's.

I have a book called REVIEWING THE 40's that contains contemporary book reviews from that decade. B.F.'s Daughter was one of those featured. Although the author was well-respected, this particular book was criticized for its somewhat patronizing outlook on women and society. Reading Marquand's book, and the criticism, approximately 70 years later I think I can be more accepting of the author's point of view.

I really enjoyed this book, yet the only character I found sympathetic was the title character who served as a foil for other characters to play off. His daughter might bring Gloria Vanderbilt to mind (not that she was specifically intended to) --- a beautiful young woman who seemingly had everything, but couldn't really find her way.

I don't enjoy dithering female characters, but I liked the way Marquand's writing exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the social, intellectual and political classes he showcases in this story. It was interesting that the book took place during the Depression, yet there wasn't much exposition of the stress it placed on business, individuals and families. I fully expected some sort of tragedy to strike one of the characters, but they skated through that period without much explanation. The impact of the war on relationships was handled much more deftly and was one of the strengths of this novel.

NetGalley provided me with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Ionia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to say about this book. It isn't exciting, but it isn't boring. It isn't suspenseful but it isn't entirely aimless either. The best I can say about it really is that the writing makes sense, but the plot never really takes off and leaves you wanting to race to the end.

If you like books with highly thoughtful characters that can be a bit unpredictable this book will probably work for you, but if you are looking for action and adventure...probably not so much. I read this all the way through and kept expecting that something truly fantastic was going to happen eventually, but it never did.

At the end of the book, I couldn't figure out how I had read so much but still felt like everything was unsettled. It's odd. That's really the best I can say.

This review is base don a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characterizations, the manner in which they are revealed, the relationships between characters and the way they are revealed were increasingly involving as I read. I thought about Polly and her life, what it has been and where it was going long after I finished the book. This is an old fashioned book, 70 years old, but a skillful commentary on society and culture in the mid 20th century, at least among the wealthy and powerful. Characters express their condescension and snobbishness towards anyone not in their particular group. There is sly humor towards the military and others. Everyone is so looking for reassurance in their own superiority that they are quick to pigeon hole and dismiss others. This sounds grim, but is amusing.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've liked some other Marquand books, but picked this one up twice and just can't get through it. I found a contemporary Kirkus review that described the best character as "B.F.' (the father) who leaves the story fairly early. I must agree. Marquand seemed to want to expose the shallowness of the east coast wealthy, but they were just dreary and boring. Enough - got too many better books waiting!

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s not a lot to say about this rather ordinary but nonetheless entertaining and very readable novel about poor little rich girl, Polly Fulton, daughter of an indulgent industrialist father, who loves and loses in fairly predictable ways in war-time America. It’s well-constructed and well-paced and if perhaps not a great work of literary fiction, it’s a good story from a good storyteller and I very much enjoyed it.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is exceedingly average. There's nothing really wrong with it, except possibly the ending, and there's nothing really great about it, either. The titular character, Polly is extremely flighty, but also amusing. Of the people who populate her world, half of them are genuine, dynamic characters, and half are flat and undeveloped. The plot, what there is of it, keeps veering toward the suspenseful, then backs off. I would say that the descriptions of life in the first half of the 20th century seem genuine and accurate, but the book was published in 1946, so the author didn't have to imagine much in describing an evocative setting.
I generally give a brief synopsis of the storyline in my reviews, but that's pretty much unnecessary here. The book's about B.F.'s daughter, and that's about it. However, for those of you who like a book to end, I have written my own epilogue and I'd like to share it. Spoiler alert!
A short while later, Mildred was killed in a train accident. Polly became Neddie's step-mother, though he still insisted on calling her "Aunt Polly" which caused no small amount of confusion when the three went out in public together. She decided to put the remainder of B.F.'s allowance to her into trust for Neddie and the other children that followed. She and Bob were able to live quite comfortably on his salary from the firm. The war ended, of course, and what Norman Bell had said about nothing before the war seeming to matter proved to be true, with one caveat: not a whole lot that happened during the war mattered much either. The (much better) End.

[Elisabeth Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed at an AirBnB where this book was lined up on the windowsill with several other attractive old books. I read it and thought it was very entertaining. Though the dialogue's dated snappiness gets a little wearing at times (was anyone ever hipper than the young people of 1944?), the main character, Polly, is the kind of spunky, capable, freckled heroine familiar from old movies, and her situation -- a fraying marriage to the guy her CEO father did not want her to marry -- is satisfyingly complex.

Marquand is always great at character and he spells things out in a way I find comforting as a reader. I especially liked the portrait of a CEO (Polly's father, the titular BF) as a curious nonconformist whose ability to cut through corporate nonsense is the secret to his success.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Loved this book so much; such an incredible insight into the life of the 'modern' woman in post-war America in the lat 1940s.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is supposedly a "brilliant satire," but I couldn't totally figure out which faction it was satirizing: wealthy self-made industrialists of the early 20th century? 1930s intellectuals who dabbled in socialism and the arts? Straight-arrow types who wanted nothing more than a respectable career and a comfortable domestic life in the suburbs?

I suspect that Polly, the protagonist, is probably the satirical target more than anyone else. Like Marjorie Morningstar (nee Morgenstern) a few years later, she's a girl of great promise, beloved by many, who grows up to learn that the men who claim to love her don't actually like her very much. Also like Marjorie, I get the impression that the well-known male author might have based her on someone he loved in his youth... and was bitter enough about the experience to write a whole book just to skewer her. But I don't know much about either John P. Marquand or Herman Wouk, so I have no idea if that's true.

Anyway.

Authors of Marquand's prestige were usually very intentional about things like titles and character names, so I have to assume that the terrible title and the nearly interchangeable men's names (Tom and Bob) were meant to be terrible and interchangeable, respectively. I had a hard time keeping Tom and Bob separate as I was reading, so it was helpful that Bob is nearly always referred to by first and last name. I don't particularly like that convention, but I guess it's better than referring to him only by last name, as some other authors from the 30s and 40s liked to do.

Overall, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Even though it was a bestseller in its day, it doesn't seem to be one of Marquand's most popular books; those would probably be the Mr. Moto books, which I read at least 40 years ago, and don't remember at all. I will probably try another one of his books at some point, because I really did enjoy the picture he paints of New York and Washington DC in the 30s and 40s.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very grudging 3 stars, mostly because I was fascinated by the picture of wartime Washington. I'd like to think that Marquand was exploring the uselessness of words to express meaning in light of global conflict, but I'm afraid that the cliched use of language is just part of his writing style--"don't you know there's a war on?" The novel in some ways should be called "The Ex-Fiance" of B. F.'s Daughter since much of it focuses on Bob Tasmin, whom Polly (B. F.'s daughter) was engaged to. B. F. is Burton Fulton, a rich industrialist with a talent for making money, even during the Great Depression. In some ways he's like William Randolph Hearst, building an enormous mansion and buying rooms from chateaus and castles to fill it. However, he's more charming, even if rather overwhelming (and he dies early on, although much of the novel is in flashback so he's quite a presence). Polly is really a poor little rich girl who doesn't feel like she belongs in the moneyed community they live in, in Connecticut, because everyone else has had money for years. She acts out occasionally, all the while learning to be a lady, and gets engaged to Bob, a neighbor whom she's loved for years. But he's too predictable so she gives up the engagement to marry Tom Brett, an instructor at Columbia, who becomes one of the whiz kids in Washington during the war. Tom, despite all his socialist talk, likes having things done for him, but eventually tires of Polly's control over his life and leaves her for his secretary. It's not until late in the novel that Polly finds this out and realizes that she should have married Bob, despite his predictability.

[Terry Polston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellently written story, but the subject was blase'. Poor rich girl can't seem to find her own identity. Although it is a real thing where people only like rich/powerful people for what they are instead of for themselves, it's a bit hard to feel sorry for them.

[Samantha Glasser]

This book was on the New York Times best-seller list.

[Mary Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel has been described as "a brilliant satire." I found it neither brilliant nor effectively satirical. This is not historical fiction or a WWII story although the '40s are the backdrop for the novel with flashbacks covering the previous twenty-five years. The characters are rather flat stereotypes, not particularly sympathetic, and there is little plot. It was published in 1946, and I found it interesting in the depiction of the quotidian minutiae of the New York moneyed class. Perhaps it created quite a stir in post-War literary circles much as Truman Capote did thirty years later; there is nothing of the timelessness one finds in Fitzgerald's stories of the same society. I couldn't recommend it unless one is interested in a time warp.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

And yet another great read by Mr. Marquand! I kind of suspected where this tale would go, but it was fun getting there just the same. Marquand is a good story teller and his characters are well developed, despite his obsession with the extremely wealthy. “B. F.’s Daughter” is the story of poor little rich girl, Polly Fulton, who’s trying to escape the shadow of her father and his wealth. Or is she? Published in 1946, who get a sense of the county and Washington, DC during WWII and how things were just never the same after the war. My copy was a book club edition, and you can tell it was from 1946 due to the quality of the paper – truly added to the reading enjoyment.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this brilliant novel, a subtle and piercing satire of American society before and during World War Two. I found it much more engrossing and harder to put down than most recent novels I've read--or left unfinished. John Marquand makes his points without hitting the reader over the head. What he leaves unsaid and suggests or implies becomes all the more powerful for it. The book also is quite funny, sometimes, as well as very touching. Polly Fulton is a complex, compelling protagonist. An American classic.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I selected this book as a PAB challenge for a best seller from the year I was born. I style was typical of the era. A young man meets the daughter of a new neighbor and over time they fall in love. They are both wealthy, though the young man is nouveau riche. Everyone is called "darling" which I found very off-putting and sometimes difficult to know who was speaking to whom. There were some draggy parts (which carried the book over into the next month) but the ending was very good and transformed an "I like" into an "I really like".

[Gwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recommended by a friend; this is one of his favorite authors. After reading, my reaction was that it reminded me of Jane Austen, but set in the early 20th century US. Not that the writing is the same, but the themes are similar - the lives of the wealthy upper class, their social relation, struggles, marriages, finances, etc. I have the same issues as with Austen - I'd like to hear about the "regular" people and their lives.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

first-rate