Cover of Rules of civility

Rules of civility

1 award & honors · incl. New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) Book of the Year Award

Literary FictionNonfiction

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About “Rules of civility”

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and A Gentleman in Moscow, a “sharply stylish” (Boston Globe) book about a young woman in post-Depression era New York who suddenly finds herself thrust into high society—now with over one million readers worldwide On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society—where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve. With its sparkling depiction of New York’s social strata, its intricate imagery and themes, and its immensely appealing characters, Rules of Civility won the hearts of readers and critics alike. (Description courtesy of Penguin Random House.)

Awards & honors

  • Winner — New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) Book of the Year Award

Praise for “Rules of civility”

“With this snappy period piece, Towles resurrects the cinematic black-and-white Manhattan of the golden age…[his] characters are youthful Americans in tricky times, trying to create authentic lives.”

— The New York Times Book Review

“This very good first novel about striving and surviving in Depression-era Manhattan deserves attention…The great strength of Rules of Civility is in the sharp, sure-handed evocation of Manhattan in the late ‘30s.”

— Wall Street Journal

“Put on some Billie Holiday, pour a dry martini and immerse yourself in the eventful life of Katey Kontent…[Towles] clearly knows the privileged world he’s writing about, as well as the vivid, sometimes reckless characters who inhabit it.”

— People

Book details

Published
2011
Latest edition
2011 · ISBN 9780143121169
ISBN
9780143121169

Frequently asked questions

How many pages is Rules of civility?

Rules of civility by Amor Towles has 335 pages.

More by Amor Towles

  1. Cover of A Gentleman in Moscow
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  2. Cover of Table for Two
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  3. Cover of The Lincoln Highway
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Book descriptions, author biographies, award records and review quotes on this page are courtesy of Penguin Random House.