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Rules of Civility

by Amor Towles
Viking. Jul. 2011 352p. ISBN 9780670022694. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
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Consider 1930s New York: the era fascinates, and this debut novel likely will, too. Starting on New Year's Eve in Greenwich Village, smart, cool, and ambitious Katey Kontent makes a mad dash from the secretarial pool to New York high society and starts learning that it is her choices that matter. Less fairy tale than the sort of dry-eyed look at American social structure that James or Wharton might provide, this book seems set to recall a glamorous time and place just out of reach.
Consider 1930s New York: the era fascinates, and this debut novel likely will, too. Starting on New Year's Eve in Greenwich Village, smart, cool, and ambitious Katey Kontent makes a mad dash from the secretarial pool to New York high society and starts learning that it is her choices that matter. Less fairy tale than the sort of dry-eyed look at American social structure that James or Wharton might provide, this book seems set to recall a glamorous time and place just out of reach.
Reviewed by Barbara Hoffert , Feb 15, 2011
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