Category: | Book |
By (author): | Towles, Amor |
Subject: | FICTION / Coming of Age |
FICTION / General | |
FICTION / Historical | |
FICTION / Literary | |
Awards: | New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) Book of the Year Award Winner |
Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
Published: | June 2012 |
Format: | Book-paperback |
Pages: | 368 |
Size: | 8.44in x 5.49in x 0.97in |
From The Publisher* | From the New York Times-bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow, a "sharply stylish" (Boston Globe) novel of a young woman in post-Depression era New York who suddenly finds herself thrust into high society. |
Review Quote* | "An irresistible and astonishingly assured debut about working class-women and world-weary WASPs in 1930s New York…in the crisp, noirish prose of the era, Towles portrays complex relationships in a city that is at once melting pot and elitist enclave- and a thoroughly modern heroine who fearlessly claims her place in it." -O, the Oprah Magazine "With this snappy period piece, Towles resurrects the cinematic black-and-white Manhattan of the golden age…[his] characters are youthful Americans in tricky times, trying to create authentic lives." -The New York Times Book Review "This very good first novel about striving and surviving in Depression-era Manhattan deserves attention…The great strength of Rules of Civility is in the sharp, sure-handed evocation of Manhattan in the late ‘30s." -Wall Street Journal "Put on some Billie Holiday, pour a dry martini and immerse yourself in the eventful life of Katey Kontent…[Towles] clearly knows the privileged world he's writing about, as well as the vivid, sometimes reckless characters who inhabit it." -People "[A] wonderful debut novel…Towles [plays] with some of the great themes of love and class, luck and fated encounters that animated Wharton's novels." -The Chicago Tribune "Glittering…filled with snappy dialogue, sharp observations and an array of terrifically drawn characters…Towles writes with grace and verve about the mores and manners of a society on the cusp of radical change." -NPR.org "Glamorous Gotham in one to relish…a book that enchants on first reading and only improves on the second." -The Philadelphia Inquirer |
Biographical Note | Born and raised in the Boston area, Amor Towles graduated from Yale College and received an MA in English from Stanford University. His first novel, Rules of Civility, published in 2011, was a New York Times bestseller and was named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the best books of 2011. His second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, published in 2016, was also a New York Times bestseller and was named as one of the best books of 2016 by the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR. Both novels have been translated into over fifteen languages. Having worked as an investment professional for over twenty years, Mr. Towles now devotes himself full time to writing in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife and two children. |