Towles also acknowledges the migrant melting pot that New York already was as we hop about Russian, Jewish and Chinese neighbourhoods. Towles recreates New York of the past with great conviction, and it’s a joy to follow Katey around Manhattan. The beauty of the book is in it’s telling. It’s a coming of age story of sorts, about a young girl who finds her way through New York society. Rules of Civility is not an entirely unique novel. That’s the problem with living in New York. Katey, on the other hand, survives the glitz and glamour of New York. He couldn’t meet the expectations that the city foisted upon him and breaking away is his only choice. Tinker is not able to live up to George Washington’s Rules of Civility, his guidebook on behaving in civil society. Katey and Tinker’s relationship never reaches its logical conclusion. If we only fell in love with people who were perfect for us…then there wouldn’t be so much fuss about love in the first place. When Wallace ships to Spain to fight Franco, Tinker finds his way back into her life. He further broadens her horizons in the upper circles of New York society. He is a great companion, friend and an excellent shooter. The closest she comes to finding a real friendship is with another rich ye gentle soul, Wallace Wilcott. In the evening, she roams the fancy clubs and house parties with her aimless but rich friends.Īnd in between, she tries to get over Tinker. During the day, she is a diligent secretary working for a cranky and eccentric boss in the posh offices of Conde Nast. While her acquaintance with Tinker lets Katy through the door of the rich and famous, it’s really the new job that brings her into the inner circle of the WASPs. Basically, rich college-educated girls passing the time before they marry and take up a house in the Hamptons. Her attempt to work with a successful literary critic follows through, and she is then introduced to the world of elite editorial assistants. She works as a secretary in a law firm, and while she is excellent at what she does, her real ambition is to work in publishing. To put distance between herself and the new couple, Katy focuses on her career. It’s really the story of Katy Constant and her fateful year in New York City that started at midnight in that seedy jazz bar. Eve was the other young woman in the bar that night.īut this is not just a love story. Our heroine, Katey Constant, is obviously very much into Tinker Grey, but before anything materializes between, a sequence of unexpected events lands Eve and Tinker together.

Towles rules of civility