Rules of Civility: A Novel - Softcover

Towles, Amor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143121855 ISBN 13: 9780143121855

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2012

Synopsis

A sophisticated and entertaining debut novel about an irresistible young woman with an uncommon sense of purpose.
Coming this fall, A Gentleman in Moscow the highly anticipated new novel from Amor Towles

Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising twenty-five-year- old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.
The story opens on New Year's Eve in a Greenwich Village jazz bar, where Katey and her boardinghouse roommate Eve happen to meet Tinker Grey, a handsome banker with royal blue eyes and a ready smile. This chance encounter and its startling consequences cast Katey off her current course, but end up providing her unexpected access to the rarified offices of Conde Nast and a glittering new social circle. Befriended in turn by a shy, principled multimillionaire, an Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, and a single-minded widow who is ahead of her times, Katey has the chance to experience first hand the poise secured by wealth and station, but also the aspirations, envy, disloyalty, and desires that reside just below the surface. Even as she waits for circumstances to bring Tinker back into her orbit, she will learn how individual choices become the means by which life crystallizes loss.
Elegant and captivating, Rules of Civility turns a Jamesian eye on how spur of the moment decisions define life for decades to come. A love letter to a great American city at the end of the Depression, readers will quickly fall under its spell of crisp writing, sparkling atmosphere and breathtaking revelations, as Towles evokes the ghosts of Fitzgerald, Capote, and McCarthy."

About this title

Review:

"The new novel we couldn't put down...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"
"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"
"Even the most jaded New Yorker can see the beauty in Amor Towles' "Rules of Civility," the antiqued portrait of an unlikely jet set making the most of Manhattan."
-"The San Francisco
Praise for "Rules of Civility"

"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
"
Praise for "Rules of Civility"
"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
"
Praise for "Rules of Civility"
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
""
Praise for Rules of Civility
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

"

Book Description:

For fans of Fitzgerald and Capote, a witty, elegant fairytale of New York, set in 1938.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0143121855
• ISBN 13: 9780143121855
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 448