The Young Lady from a Good Family

Socorro Acioli

Artwork by Ehud Neuhaus

Should you ever be lucky enough to be introduced to the Young Lady from a Good Family, you will notice that she always states her first and last names at the beginning of a conversation. In five minutes she will have told you about her father, mother, uncles, and aunts, because she wants you to know precisely who you’re talking to.

The Young Lady from a Good Family isn’t pretty, but she dresses well and wears Lancôme. She isn’t smart, but her father was, and that’s what matters. Anyone in the province with a good surname needs nothing else, they waste no time with nonsense. She has never done anything relevant; her late father’s contribution suffices. She has no ideas of her own, doesn’t like reading, but her father had a wonderful library and, should she ever need a book, she knows where to find it. Nevertheless, she has books at home, let’s be perfectly clear. The interior designer said it’s elegant to have a few hardcover editions on the coffee table, and she agreed. Art books. Art is chic. And the Young Lady from a Good Family knows how to be chic.

In addition to work, she has to manage the household, the Husband from a Good Family, three children, and four maids. Not to mention all the social affairs. The Young Lady has invitations to tend to almost every day. Birthday parties for her friends, her friends’ mothers, her friends’ children. All from Good Families. There is always something new—plastic surgery, a new designer brand, a new goldsmith, all the best! You’ve probably seen these Highborns in the papers. Society columnists love the Young Lady from a Good Family and do not miss a party she attends. Some people say she pays to appear in the paper, but they’re just jealous. It’s just envy. She is popular because of her charisma.

You might think that the Young Lady from a Good Family is happy and has no troubles, but you would be sorely mistaken. She is currently going through a very hard time. Her youngest brother insisted on going to a public university, and the worst has happened: he fell in love with a Young Woman Without a Good Name. She is young, thin, beautiful, smart, and currently pursuing a master’s degree on a prestigious scholarship program—as if this could make up for the lack of a good family name. She has no fashion sense, spends all her money on books—second-hand, even. Believe it or not, she doesn’t know what Tom Ford sunglasses are. Embarrassing.

To add insult to injury, the Young Lady from a Good Family has to put up with preposterous behavior from her maids. The last one, mind you, asked to leave early right when the Young Lady’s Highborn Friends were coming for an afternoon tea. The maid said her son was in the hospital and she had to stay with him. Can you believe the audacity? Their Kind picks the worst times to get sick, that’s what the Young Lady always says. She cannot stand Their Kind. What the Young Lady hates most is that they never learn who they’re talking to.

The Young Lady’s mother sometimes asks her to be a little kinder. That is so unfair. Doesn’t her mother know that the Young Lady from a Good Family goes to Church every Sunday, prays for world peace, and donates five reais to the parish’s charity work? Five reais, every Sunday. Could she be any kinder?

translated from the Portuguese by Silvia Düssel Schiros

Read the original in Portuguese

Listen to the original read by the translator:

This short piece is one of Socorro’s writings for her column in the Brazilian newspaper O POVO. Socorro’s short writings are witty and insightful, often delivering relevant criticism about Brazilian society. This genre, crônica, is extremely popular in Brazil, and can be hard to categorize. Is it fiction? Nonfiction? I personally see crônicas as pieces of fiction based on real-life stories, but some would beg to differ. In researching how it is generally described, I have found a definition I like on Wikipedia (yes, I know): it “crosses the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction, a gray area between literature and journalism.” Some of Socorro’s crônicas have been published by Editora Dummar under the title Sobre os felizes.

Socorro Acioli is an award-winning Brazilian journalist and writer with a PhD in literary studies from the Universidade Federal Fluminense. She has published over twenty books, among which are biographies, children’s books, and YA literature. Based on the synopsis of her novel The Head of the Saint (translated by Daniel Hahn), Gabriel García Márquez selected Acioli to participate in his "How to Tell a Tale" workshop. Her most recent novel, Oração para desaparecer, was published in November 2023 by Companhia das Letras. She is a professor at Unifor - Universidade de Fortaleza, where she coordinates the writing program.

Silvia Düssel Schiros translates between Portuguese and English as well as from Spanish into English and Portuguese. She has a degree in translation from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. Although she has been working as a translator for thirty years, she has just recently started to focus on honing her literary translation skills. Her translation of Socorro Acioli’s children’s book The Little Stone Fish was published in the third issue of the Machado de Assis Magazine, a special issue dedicated to literature for children and young people, which was launched at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on the event’s fiftieth anniversary. She is a member of the Portuguese-English Literary Translators Association (PELTA).