The Finishing School was published by Viking in 1985 and explores one of Godwin’s recurring subjects: the relationship between a younger woman and an older mentor, and the complex mixture of inspiration, exploitation, admiration, and resentment that characterizes such relationships. Fourteen-year-old Justin Stokes, transplanted from the South to upstate New York, forms an intense bond with Ursula DeVane — a charismatic, reclusive older woman who is (or claims to be) a failed actress of enormous talent.
The novel operates on two time levels: the adult Justin looking back on the summer of 1957, and the adolescent Justin experiencing it. This dual perspective allows Godwin to show both the intensity of the relationship as it was lived and the more complex understanding that comes with maturity. Ursula is simultaneously inspiring (she opens Justin’s mind to art, literature, and emotional intensity) and dangerous (she is manipulative, needy, and ultimately destructive). The “finishing school” of the title is both literal (Ursula’s education of Justin) and ironic (the friendship “finishes” in a different sense).
Godwin handles the psychology of adolescent intensity with extraordinary precision: the hunger for someone who sees you as special, the willingness to overlook warning signs, the confusion between love and need. The novel is also a meditation on artistic temperament — what separates genuine talent from mere performance, and whether Ursula’s failure was caused by external circumstances or by something essential in her character.
Collecting The Finishing School
First edition (Viking, New York, 1985): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $10–$30
- Without jacket: $5–$10