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The Manhattan Girls

A Novel of Dorothy Parker and Her Friends

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

It's a 1920s version of Sex and the City, as Dorothy Parker—one of the wittiest women who ever wielded a pen—and her three friends navigate life, love, and careers in New York City. Perfect for fans of Fiona Davis, Beatriz Williams, and Renée Rosen.

NEW YORK CITY 1921: The war is over, fashions are daring, and bootleg liquor is abundant. Here four extraordinary women form a bridge group that grows into a firm friendship.

Dorothy Parker: renowned wit, member of the Algonquin Round Table, and more fragile than she seems. Jane Grant: first female reporter for the New York Times, and determined to launch a new magazine she calls The New Yorker. Winifred Lenihan: beautiful and talented Broadway actress, a casting-couch target. And Peggy Leech: magazine assistant by day, brilliant novelist by night.

Their romances flourish and falter while their goals sometimes seem impossible to reach and their friendship deepens against the backdrop of turbulent New York City, where new speakeasies open and close, jazz music flows through the air, and bathtub gin fills their glasses.

They gossip, they comfort each other, and they offer support through the setbacks. But their biggest challenge is keeping their dear friend Dottie safe from herself.

In this brilliant new novel from the bestselling and acclaimed author of Jackie and Maria and The Secret Wife, readers will fall right into Jazz Age New York and into the inner lives of these groundbreaking, influential women.

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    • Booklist

      June 1, 2022
      Dorothy Parker's wit is famous (if not infamous), but her fragile ego and intense longing are less often discussed. In her latest piece of historical fiction, Paul introduces the reader to Parker's circle of friends in early 1920s New York. Parker's acerbic sense of humor lays the foundations for the group at the "Gonk" (the Algonquin Hotel) to chat and gossip and drink. Among Parker's closest friends are Jane Grant, the first woman reporter at the New York Times; Winifred Lenihan, Broadway star; and Peggy Leach, a brilliant writer disguised as a mousy spinster. Each woman takes a turn narrating as Paul moves around Manhattan, from speakeasies to run-down, walk-up apartments. The women must navigate the heady and confusing atmosphere of postwar NYC. They become united in their efforts to keep Parker from falling completely apart when her marriage begins to falter. Paul (The Lost Daughter, 2019) strikes a balance between the cynicism of the Lost Generation and the characters' sincere desires to find happiness and stability. Witty, emotional, and intelligent.

      COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      July 29, 2022

      In Paul's (The Collector's Daughter: A Novel of the Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb) new 1920s-set historical novel, a group of literary elites known as the Round Table meet regularly at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. (The Algonquin Round Table was a real group, whose founding members included journalist Harold Ross, columnist Franklin Pierce Adams, and satirist Dorothy Parker.) When some Round Table members initiate a men's-only Saturday night poker group, four enterprising women members (Parker; New York Times reporter Jane Grant; Broadway actress Winifred Lenihan; and ad agent/aspiring novelist Peggy Leech) follow suit and create their own weekly bridge club. What begins as a simple outlet for cocktails, gossip, and card-playing quickly morphs into a tight-knit sisterhood of unstoppable women. The bridge club tackles a myriad of social issues in their small inner circle--depression, suicide, abortion, rape, spousal abuse, stalking, divorce--and its four members reach life-changing career milestones and begin to crack some glass ceilings. VERDICT Historical fiction enthusiasts will extol Paul's riveting Sex in the City--esque novel, which includes speakeasies, bootleggers, gangsters, bathtub gin, and an impressive who's who of the rich, the famous, and the infamous of Roaring-Twenties New York City.--Mary Todd Chesnut

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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