Character Analysis
Henry and Louisa van der Luyden are always presented as a unit. If there were royalty in American society, the van der Luydens would be Kate Middleton and Prince William. The van der Luyden name goes back to the time when New York was still a Dutch colony. They have the last word on all things social, even though they're relatively isolated from New York high society. They spend most of their time in seclusion at their country home, Skuytercliff.