Overview

National Bestseller ONE OF FALL'S MOST ANTICIPATED READS--New York Times, Vulture, BookPage, Kirkus Reviews, and more From the New York Times bestselling author and advice columnist, a poignant and funny debut novel about the residents of a women's hotel in 1960s New York City. The Biedermeier might be several rungs lower on the ladder than the real-life Barbizon, but its residents manage to occupy one another nonetheless. There's Katherine, the first-floor manager, lightly cynical and more than lightly suggestible. There's Lucianne, a workshy party girl caught between the love of comfort and an instinctive bridling at convention, Kitty the sponger, Ruth the failed hairdresser, and Pauline the typesetter. And there's Stephen, the daytime elevator operator and part-time Cooper Union student. The residents give up breakfast, juggle competing jobs at rival presses, abandon their children, get laid off from the telephone company, attempt to retrain as stenographers, all with the shared awareness that their days as an institution are numbered, and they'd better make the most of it while it lasts. As trenchant as the novels of Dawn Powell and Rona Jaffe and as immersive as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Lessons in Chemistry, Women's Hotel is a modern classic--and it is very, very funny.

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9780063343535

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Reviews

"""I cannot imagine a more perfect use of an afternoon than reading this book."" -- Helen Rosner, The New Yorker"

"""I cannot imagine a more perfect use of an afternoon than reading this book."" -- Helen Rosner, The New Yorker ""[E]very character is distinct and their backstories, misadventures, and little victories intertwine skillfully. Lavery has a wonderful ear for a period turn-of-phrase and his prose glitters with humor and affection for human foibles. ... Readers will be hard-pressed not to read sections aloud to passersby. ... [A] stay at the Biedermeier is pure pleasure."" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) ""Appealingly offbeat. ... Lavery colorfully captures the hotel in the last glimmers of its heyday and brings the misfit residents to life. ... Readers will find much to savor."" -- Publishers Weekly"

"""I cannot imagine a more perfect use of an afternoon than reading this book."" -- Helen Rosner, The New Yorker ""[E]very character is distinct and their backstories, misadventures, and little victories intertwine skillfully. Lavery has a wonderful ear for a period turn-of-phrase and his prose glitters with humor and affection for human foibles. ... Readers will be hard-pressed not to read sections aloud to passersby. ... [A] stay at the Biedermeier is pure pleasure."" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"

Author Information

Daniel M. Lavery is a former Dear Prudence advice columnist at Slate, the cofounder of The Toast, and the New York Times bestselling author of Texts from Jane Eyre, The Merry Spinster, Something That May Shock and Discredit You, and Women's Hotel. He also writes the popular newsletter The Chatner.

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