Skip to content
City of Girls (Paperback)
  • City of Girls (Paperback)
zoom

City of Girls (Paperback)

(author)
£10.99
Paperback 512 Pages
Published: 07/04/2020
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • 10+ in stock

Usually dispatched within 1-2 days

Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • This item has been added to your basket
Waterstones Says

Revelling unabashedly in hedonism and excess, the characters in City of Girls are bursting with life and vigour. Vivian is seamstress to the showgirls of a revue bar in 1940s Manhattan, throwing herself in to the glamour of her new life with wild abandon. But there are dangerous choices to make and different identities to craft if she wants to survive in wartime New York.

It is the summer of 1940.

Nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris arrives in New York with her suitcase and sewing machine, exiled by her despairing parents. Although her quicksilver talents with a needle and commitment to mastering the perfect hair roll have been deemed insufficient for her to pass into her sophomore year of Vassar, she soon finds gainful employment as the self-appointed seamstress at the Lily Playhouse, her unconventional Aunt Peg's charmingly disreputable Manhattan revue theatre. There, Vivian quickly becomes the toast of the showgirls, transforming the trash and tinsel only fit for the cheap seats into creations for goddesses.

Exile in New York is no exile at all: here in this strange wartime city of girls, Vivian and her girlfriends mean to drink the heady highball of life itself to the last drop. And when the legendary English actress Edna Watson comes to the Lily to star in the company's most ambitious show ever, Vivian is entranced by the magic that follows in her wake. But there are hard lessons to be learned, and bitterly regrettable mistakes to be made. Vivian learns that to live the life she wants, she must live many lives, ceaselessly and ingeniously making them new.

'At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is,' she confides. And so Vivian sets forth her story, and that of the women around her - women who have lived as they truly are, out of step with a century that could never quite keep up with them.

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9781408867068
Number of pages: 512
Weight: 353 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

A glamorous, sexy, compelling romp of a novel about showgirls in New York in the 1940s. It is an addictive story, with vivid, brazenly drawn female characters, that brims with fascinating historical details of the time … Radical and refreshing to read - Dolly Alderton, Sunday Times

I adored this story, I fell in love with Vivian from page one, she has an utterly singular voice, and I was captivated by tcombination of glamour and grit - it's a dazzling escapist fantasy with characters and emotions that are thrillingly real - Daisy Buchanan

A glorious, multi-layered, emotionally astute celebration of womanhood … An eloquently persuasive treatise on the judgment and punishment of women, and a heartfelt call to reclaim female sexual agency - Sam Baker, Guardian

Glamorous and vivid - Independent, Top 15 novels of the year so far

Breezily funny and vividly written, City Of Girls is a quietly radical celebration of feminine sexual inhibition that slips down as easily as a gin martini. Expect to see it on multiple beaches this summer - Claire Allfree, Metro

A rollicking, beautifully rendered ride of glitter and fun … Gilbert’s novel is something of a masterpiece of flapdoodle itself … Gilbert has a knack for storytelling and her plot doesn’t so much twist as twirl, high-kicking all the way … A rambunctious anthem to living a life joyous and satisfyingly full — and that deserves an ovation - Evening Standard

City of Girls will be a hit ... Readers will adore its bolstering message of hope - Sunday Times

Written with such wit, verve and emotional honesty that you feel you've washed down 100 life lessons within a vodka martini … There are some of the most brilliant and truthful evocations of youthful sexual exploration that you'll ever read … She has triumphed. City of Girls is an education in love, and an iridescent delight - Rowan Pelling, Spectator

Brilliant on female friendship, desire and the influence a good mentor can bring to enrich a young woman's life - Grazia Summer Reads

Compelling … works with themes of freedom, responsibility and empowerment that feel both timeless and timely. In a moment when women’s desires are still being governed, this is a story about a woman who recognises – and embraces – hers - Time

There is so much to love in City of Girls. Vivian’s voice is strong and leaves you yearning for more time with her - Independent

A romantic misadventure written with such wit, verve and emotional honesty that you feel you’ve washed down 100 life lessons within a vodka martini … She has triumphed. City of Girls is an education in love, and an iridescent delight - Rowan Pelling, Spectator

City of Girls is about women throwing off the shackles of marriage and convention in order to explore their desires … What I loved about Vivian, is that she seizes the day - BBC Radio 4

The self-portrait of a woman whose truest intimacy is with her own being … It’s the story of a woman who’s made an independent life as best she can. If the usual narrative shapes don’t fit most lives – neither she nor her creator seems to be worrying about it - New York Times

Expect to spot a copy on every beach towel come June - Vogue, Must-Reads

Hugely enjoyable and goes down with a smacking of lips while bringing a sparkle to the eye - i

Her wise, funny, ballsy voice is one that's given countless women the courage to change their lives… A glamorous romp of a tale that dazzleswith sequin-clad showgirls - Clover Stroud, Red

Wherever Liz Gilbert goes, we’ll follow - Oprah magazine, Best book releases, 2019

Fizzy, fabulous … As bubbly as a champagne cocktail but with a real kick in the tail - Sunday Express

Funny, bittersweet … Explores female desire in a radically refreshing way - independent.co.uk

‘For years, I have wanted to write a novel about women who have a lot of sex, and who like it, and whose lives aren’t destroyed by it,” says Eat Pray Love author Gilbert. This is that book, set across the glittering fabric of a lost New York - Red, The books we can’t wait to read 2019

I freaking adored this book. Its heroine, Vivian Morris, will absolutely steal your heart and probably do a good job of breaking it, too - Sarra Manning

The Eat Pray Love author transports us to New York in the summer of 1940 and a vibrant theatre scene studded with raucous showgirls - Net-a-Porter.com, Best Summer Reads

Young women come of age in war time New York, in the new novel from the author of Eat, Pray, Love - Guardian, 2019 in books: what you’ll be reading this year

This cracker of a book manages to be funny, playful and thoughtful all at once … A real joy to read … A frothy sequin clad frolic … a dazzling read - Good Housekeeping, ‘10 Books to Read Right Now’

Sensational - Cosmopolitan

A classic coming-of-age story - Daily Express

A fizzing portrait of a giddy young female hedonism - Irish Times

You may also be interested in...

Onyx Storm
Added to basket
Hardback
£25.00 £19.99
Orbital
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99
Blue Sisters
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
Fourth Wing
Added to basket
Paperback
£10.99 £8.99
Iron Flame
Added to basket
Paperback
£10.99 £8.99
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Added to basket
The Wizard of the Kremlin
Added to basket
Hunted
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
Yellowface
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
The Housemaid
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
Quicksilver
Added to basket
Hardback
£20.00 £16.99
What You Are Looking for is in the Library
Added to basket
Intermezzo
Added to basket
Hardback
£20.00 £16.99
The Vegetarian
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99
The Warm Hands of Ghosts
Added to basket
Exit Strategy
Added to basket
Hardback
£22.00
The Bee Sting
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
Voyage of the Damned
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49

“New York, New York!”

An incredible story set in the Big Apple. Vivian is a young impressionable girl who has arrived in this city that never sleeps. Her greatest talent is that she happens to be a dab hand with a sewing machine. Taught by... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 117

“A love story like no other....”

What a life Vivian had, full of glamour, sex, adventure now she looks back on her life and tells her story.

Elizabeth Gilbert uses New York as one of her characters from 20’s to now, city is described beautifully.... More

Hardback edition
2 similar books recommended
Helpful? Upvote 88
idealpages

“A fun and charming story detailing a woman's lifespan in showbiz, WW2, and modernisation”

City of Girls is a coming-of-age story across one woman’s lifespan filled with delight and grief, to make a wonderous and deeply emotional read.

This reads like a memoir; I felt like I was sitting down to hear my... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 63

Please sign in to write a review

Your review has been submitted successfully.