Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at
Breaking the Spine to highlight an upcoming release you can't wait to read. My pick this week is
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, a debut novel I discovered while reading
Library Journal's divine Monday morning
pre-pub alert.
Here's how the publisher describes it:
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.
Rules of Civility will be released by Viking on July 21, 2011. You can pre-order it from Amazon in
hardback
or
for the Kindle, from
The Book Depository, or from
an independent bookstore
.
As an affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you!
I LOVE the sound of this one; thanks for putting it on my radar.
ReplyDeleteDitto what Diane said.
ReplyDeleteThere's just something about historical novels set in NYC that calls my name!
*dashes off to subscribe to the pre-pub alert*
Great, an historical novel! I love that, great pick!
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love LJ's Pre-Pub Alert?? This one's on my list, too!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of this book before, but it sounds right up my alley! I am going to have to try to pick this one up!
ReplyDeleteOh, this one sounds awesome! I love NY stories, and set in this time period, it should be a great read. Thanks for sharing...
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for visiting my blog.
Oh wow, that looks reeeaallly good!
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing this one to my attention. It really sounds good.
ReplyDeleteNever seen this book before.
ReplyDeleteWill check out this book.
Author and book are totally new to me -- I've add this to me books-to-watch-out-for list!
ReplyDeleteOMG, this sounds wonderful! I love reading about this time period and NYC both!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for highlighting this one. too bad we have to wait until July :(