Umbrella Steps Author:Julie Goldsmith Gilbert The book is a funny, sophisticated first novel by Julie Goldsmith Gilbert (the grand-niece of Edna Ferber. She studied acting and appeared in stock, off Broadway and on TV. The book, which she wrote at 24, is the story of Prudence Goodrich, a 16-year-old New Yorker at one of the city's most fashionable private schools. She describes herself: "I ... more »am a minor in the eyes of New York. I do my drinking at home. I don't rap, groove, or turn my head on ... I sleep with older men." Prudence is best friends with Lolly Spitz. And the complicated game played between the two Goodriches and the two Spitzes makes for one of the most deliciously readable and unusual love stories to be published in years.« less