From start to finish, I devoured this book in three days—turning pages over my morning coffee and reading at night instead of watching television. There are no dragons, no grand calamities, nothing fantastical to demand attention. Instead, Towles gives us something even better: exquisite prose, fully realized characters, and a marvelous, atmospheric portrait of New York City.
Set in 1938, the story follows Katey Kontent and her roommate Eve, who meet Tinker Grey, a wealthy banker, on New Year’s Eve—and from that moment, Katey’s life shifts. Eve burns bright, all impulse and charm. Katey is the reader (I now want to read every book she references), the observer, the deep thinker. And Tinker… he’s the man doing the wrong things for what he believes are the right reasons.
“It is a lovely oddity of human nature that a person is more inclined to interrupt two people in conversation than one person alone with a book.”
“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.”
“I’ve come to realize that however blue my circumstances, if after finishing a chapter of a Dickens novel I feel a miss-my-stop-on-the-train sort of compulsion to read on, then everything is probably going to be just fine.”
This novel feels like an ode to being young—making mistakes, forging friendships, and stepping boldly into life even when you don’t fully understand it. Towles captures that restless, hopeful energy with such elegance.
I’ll definitely be reaching for more of his books.
Anna Bushi 