Publisher: 18th August 2022 by Avon Books UK
Pages: 416 pages
Genre: historical fiction, women’s fiction
My Rating: 3.5 cups
Synopsis:
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 served wherever you go. It is here that four extraordinary women form a bridge group that grew 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, who is determined to launch a new magazine. The Broadway actress Winifred Lenihan, beautiful, talented, and a casting-couch target. And Peggy Leech, magazine assistant by day, brilliant novelist by night.
Romances flourish and falter, while their goals sometimes seem impossible to reach, and their group 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, 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.
My Thoughts
Be transported back to 1920s New York to meet four interesting women in The Manhattan Girls. In her latest book, Gill gives voice to women who have gone missing from the pages of history, or were perhaps misrepresented in the first place. Set against the backdrop of Prohibition, Gill traces the lives of four women and the challenges they faced in working to have a career and respectful relationships.
Writers, artists, journalists, actors, and theater people met up at the famed Round Table at the Algonquin Hotel (Google it!) Yet Gill focuses on four women who formed a Bridge club: : Dorothy Parker, author; Jane Grant, journalist; Margaret "Peggy" Leech, sales person and author; and Winifred Lenihan, actress. Gill tried to capture each woman individually and collectively in their aspirations and challenges in what was still very much a man’s world.
“Women my age are on the cusp of social change, partly because of the war, partly because more of us are working. It means we’re inventing new rules as we go along, but sometimes it feels - forgive me - as if the men haven’t caught up.”
If this era appeals to you, with an obvious focus on women who were fighting for equality both at work and at home, you are sure to enjoy this book. The challenge of writing four different voices with much dialogue was met but still a lot to absorb. With friendship, camaraderie and the search for creative outlets in a very male orientated world these women were inspiring in this determinant decade.
‘…. they were both young married women trying to forge a place in the world who didn’t think looking after their husbands was their sole purpose in life.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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