Rules of Civility: The stunning debut by the million-copy bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow - Softcover

Towles, Amor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444708872 ISBN 13: 9781444708875

Publisher: Sceptre, 2012

Synopsis

'Fabulous' Observer
'Achingly stylish' Guardian
'Irresistible' Daily Telegraph
'Gripping' The Sunday Times

In a jazz bar on the last night of 1937,
watching a quartet because she couldn't afford to see the whole ensemble,
there were certain things Katey Kontent knew:

the location of every old church in Manhattan
how to sneak into the cinema
how to type eighty words a minute, five thousand an hour, and nine million a year
and that if you can still lose yourself in a Dickens novel then everything is going to be fine.

By the end of the year she'd learned:

how to live like a redhead
and insist upon the very best;
that riches can turn to rags in the trip of a heartbeat,
chance encounters can be fated, and the word 'yes' can be a poison.

That's how quickly New York City comes about, like a weathervane, or the head of a cobra. Time tells which.

'A delicious and memorable novel that will leave you wistful - and desperate for a martini.' Stylist

'Elegance and hardship drip off the page' Daily Mail

About this title

Review:

Impossibly glamorous . . . Towles conjures up vintage New York so marvellously that it made me feel nostalgic for a place I've never been to. (The Times)

Achingly stylish...witty, slick production, replete with dark intrigue, period details, and a suitably Katharine Hepburn-like heroine (Guardian)

The summer's must-read: gripping and beautiful (Sunday Times)

Terrific. A smart, witty, charming dry-martini of a novel (David Nicholls, author of One Day)

This is a flesh-and-blood tale you believe in, with fabulous period detail. It's all too rare to find a fun, glamorous, semi-literary tale to get lost in... While you're lost in the whirl of silk stockings, fur and hip flasks, all you care about is what Katey Kontent does next (Viv Groskop, Observer)

Irresistible... A cross between Dorothy Parker and Holly Golightly, Katey Kontent is a priceless narrator in her own right - the brains of a bluestocking with the legs of a flapper and the mores of Carrie Bradshaw (Elena Seymenliyska, Telegraph)

Because who doesn't want to be transported to Thirties Manhattan? (Lucy Mangan)

Jazz-age New York is the setting for martinis and girls on the make in Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. As glamorous as it is gut-wrenching, this is the summer's must-read (ELLE)

...my book of the year. If the unthinkable happened and I could never read another new work of fiction in 2011, I'd simply re-read this sparkling, stylish book, with yet another round of martinis as dry as the author's wit (Jackie McGlone, Herald)

Set against a soundtrack of clinking glasses and saxophones, the book is a love letter to the city and the era, so confidently written it instantly plunges you into Thirties New York. Towles creates a narrative that sparkles with sentences so beautiful you'll stop and re-read them. A delicious and memorable novel that will leave you wistful - and desperate for a martini (Stylist)

Book Description:

The first novel by the author of The Gentleman of Moscow, Rules of Civility is a witty, elegant fairytale of late 30's New York for fans of Breakfast at Tiffany's and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1444708872
• ISBN 13: 9781444708875
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368