New Year’s Eve 1937, Katey and her boardinghouse roommate Eve, are spending the evening in a Greenwich Village jazz bar. The night is still young, their dollars are dwindling fast, and these two girls are looking for a way to prolong the evening. In walks Tinker Grey, a handsome blue eyed banker who orbits in quite the different world of the wealthy upper class. Little do any of them know how this encounter will dramatically change the course of their lives.

Rules of Civility is about the watershed year in the life of Katey Kontent. A strong and determined young woman, whose intelligence and ambitions take her from wall street secretarial pool to competitive publishing world. Katey is the daughter of a working class Russian immigrants and makes no apologies for it, no matter what social circle she is mingling with. She is coolly ambitious and works hard by day and plays equally hard by night.

A wonderfully elegant novel that captures New York City at the end of the depression era, with its beauty and ugliness all wrapped together. The characters are flawed, fascinating, and believable. Amor Towles writing is fluid and witty, I absolutely love this novel. Highly recommend. ~Mara