Description

The New York Times bestseller

‘Achingly stylish’
Guardian

‘Irresistible’
Daily Telegraph

‘Impossibly glamorous’
The Times

‘Fabulous’
Observer

‘Gripping’
Sunday Times

The unforgettable debut by the bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway

On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate New York City jazz bar trying to stretch three dollars as far as it will go.

But a chance encounter with the handsome banker at the next table changes everything, opening the door to the upper echelons of New York society and a glittering new social circle. Plunged into a dizzy world of cocktail parties, sprawling mansions and glamorous magazine offices, Katey soon learns that there are rules to play by and riches can turn to rags in the trip of a heartbeat . . .

PRAISE FOR AMOR TOWLES

‘Towles is not a one trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range’
Bill Gates

‘He makes it all seem effortless’
Tana French

‘A masterful writer’
Washington Times

‘One of the best of today’s historical novelists’
Express

‘A supreme storyteller’
Publishers Weekly

Publisher Review

Impossibly glamorous, RULES OF CIVILITY takes in 1930s New York with a dry martini and a side order of sharp-tongued wit. with vintage period detail verging on the nostalgic, it's a stylish tale of ambitious, wisecracking gals on the make in Manhattan...With love at its heart (love lost, regained, betrayed and shared), this book is so much more than the sum of its parts as it takes in ambition, manner and the American Dream along the way. Where it excels is not letting the style become its only substance...Rules of Civility has the feel of a classic, one that's as rich in story as in nostalgia and love for New York...With crackling prose, a compelling story and a beautiful way with words, this clever and sassy book is not only dull of charm, it's shockingly good fun too. * Fiction Uncovered * Rattles along at the pace of a riotous night out in the book's vividly evoked Manhattan. It is atmospheric, satisfying Great Gatsby-lite complete, with fish-out-of-water first-person narration, country house parties and a fabulously wealthy male protagonist who is not all that he seems. * Ben Hoyle, The Times * Even the most jaded New Yorker can see the beauty in Amor Towles' RULES OF CIVILITY the antiqued portrait of an unlikely jet set making the most of Manhattan. * San Francisco Chronicle * This book feels special...Towles was born to write * Sun 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 * ...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 * 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 * Because who doesn't want to be transported to Thirties Manhattan? * Lucy Mangan * 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 * 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 * Terrific. A smart, witty, charming dry-martini of a novel * David Nicholls, author of One Day * The summer's must-read: gripping and beautiful * Sunday Times * Achingly stylish...witty, slick production, replete with dark intrigue, period details, and a suitably Katharine Hepburn-like heroine * Guardian * 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 * Elegance and hardship drip off the page * Daily Mail * Who doesn't want to be transported to Thirties Manhattan? -- Lucy Mangan It's the Depression, and a gal Friday with a mouth like Dorothy Parker's is dallying with the smart set...turns out she's not the only climber. A joyride through the ups and downs of 1930s high society * Good Housekeeping * A fizzy, finely observed tale . . . It's also a loving evocation of the chance social alchemy of Village jazz joints, Wall Street coffee shops, Midtown Champagne palaces, and Lower East Side former speakeasies * The New York Times Book Review * Amor Towles' stylish, elegant and deliberately anachronistic debut novel transports readers back to Manhattan in 1938 . . . Filled with snappy dialogue, sharp observations and an array of terrifically drawn characters . . . Glittering * NPR * Rules is more of an homage to an era, a ballsy treat of a novel with a pinch of mystery and oh so many neat one-liners * The Times * 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 * If the unthinkable happened and I could never read another new work of fiction . . . I'd simply re-read this sparkling, stylish book, with yet another round of martinis as dry as the author's wit * Herald * 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 [a] must-read * Elle * 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 * Telegraph * '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 * Gripping and beautiful * Sunday Times * Terrific. A smart, witty, charming dry-martini of a novel -- David Nicholls, author of One Day Achingly stylish . . . [a] witty, slick production, replete with dark intrigue, period details, and a suitably Katharine Hepburn-like heroine * Guardian *