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Rules of Civility: The stunning debut by the million-copy bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor Towles
c 1918 to c 1939 (Inter-war period), Fiction, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Historical romance, Historical fiction
For fans of Fitzgerald and Capote, a witty, elegant fairytale of New York, set in 1938.
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 the first chapter of a Dickens novel then everything is probably going to be fine.
By the end of the year she'd learned:
- How to launch a paper airplane high over Park Avenue
- How to live like a redhead
- How to insist upon the very best
- That the word 'yes' can be a poison
- and the Rules of Civility.
That's how quickly New York City comes about - like a weathervane - or the head of a cobra. Time tells which.
Praise for Rules of Civility: The stunning debut by the million-copy bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow
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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
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Achingly stylish...witty, slick production, replete with dark intrigue, period details, and a suitably Katharine Hepburn-like heroine - Guardian
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The summer's must-read: gripping and beautiful - Sunday Times
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Terrific. A smart, witty, charming dry-martini of a novel - David Nicholls, author of One Day
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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
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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
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Because who doesn't want to be transported to Thirties Manhattan? - Lucy Mangan
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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
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Amor Towles
Amor Towles is the author of New York Times bestsellers Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway. The three novels have collectively sold more than six million copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. Towles lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.
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