Populating this comic novel of manners is a circle of displaced southerners, summering at a Long Island enclave. Frequently alcohol soaked, falling apart with cultivated charm, they are obsessively observed by their compatriot Storey Collier, herself searching for Meaning in the inanities and tender twists of the day to day—especially regarding her past but present flame, ex-baseball player Hobby Fox, “courtly and windblown and stoic.” Between the southerners’ dark gaiety and the Yankees who are out for plain American fun, Sportsman’s Paradise weaves an irresistible spell only Nancy Lemann could concoct.