Boston Adventure

Boston Adventure is a 1943 novel by Jean Stafford. It was her first published novel and was a surprise best-seller, launching her career as a writer.

Set shortly before World War II, it tells the story of Sonia Marburg, who grew up in Chichester, a small fishing village on the North Shore facing Boston. Deserted by her father and burdened with an insane mother, she dreams of life on the imagined splendor of Beacon Hill, a rich neighborhood in Boston. When she becomes the protegee of a wealthy Bostonian as a teenager her dream is achieved, but with it comes the revelation of an empty, decadent society.