Why am I passionate about this?

I moved to New York when I was 15 and fell in love with the city. I was starting high school then, and arriving in Manhattan felt like the world opened up to me. Suddenly, I could ride the subway anywhere I wanted, see the best theater in the world, and feel as if anything was possible. The female journey has also been a topic I have long been fascinated by, and when I began my journalism career and became a wife and mother, the need to explore those dynamics grew ever more pressing. I recommend these books because they combine my two favorite topicsā€”New York and womenā€™s history. 


I wrote

Book cover of When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

What is my book about?

My book follows three women who battle sexism, corporate hierarchies, and complex love lives to become presidents of some ofā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman

Julie Satow Why did I love this book?

I loved this book! It is dishy and smart and has all the glitz you would expect of the first-ever complete account of the making of Breakfast at Tiffanyā€™s. With a cast of characters that includes Truman Capote, Edith Head, and Audrey Hepburn, it transported me to New York in the late 1950s, one of my favorite decades.

By Sam Wasson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"So smart and entertaining it should come with its own popcorn"-People

Coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of the film version of Truman Capote's Breakast at Tiffany's, the acclaimed, New York Times bestseller that is the definitive account of Audrey Hepburn and the making of the cultural landmark film-now updated with a new introduction by the author.

In Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M., Sam Wasson goes beyond the legend to explore the woman inside the little black dress and the film that captured the imagination of the nation in 1961-when the staid propriety of the Eisenhower years gave way to the glamorousā€¦


Book cover of The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free

Julie Satow Why did I love this book?

This book is a deeply researched account of one of the most famous women-only hotels, the go-to place for ambitious, aspiring career women from writers like Joan Didion and Sylvia Plath to actresses like Ali MacGraw and Jaclyn Smith. It is my favorite kind of history, a journey through the twentieth century told through the lives of fascinating women.

By Paulina Bren,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Barbizon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A ā€œcaptivating portraitā€ (The Wall Street Journal), both ā€œpoignant and intriguingā€ (The New Republic): from award-winning author Paulina Bren comes the remarkable history of New Yorkā€™s most famous residential hotel and the women who stayed there, including Grace Kelly, Sylvia Plath, and Joan Didion.

Welcome to New Yorkā€™s legendary hotel for women, the Barbizon.

Liberated after WWI from home and hearth, women flocked to New York City during the Roaring Twenties. But even as womenā€™s residential hotels became the fashion, the Barbizon stood out; it was designed for young women with artistic aspirations, and included soaring art studios and soundproofedā€¦


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Book cover of Ferry to Cooperation Island

Ferry to Cooperation Island by Carol Newman Cronin,

James Malloy is a ferry captain--or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a "girl" named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Islandā€™s daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored.

When he discovers aā€¦

Book cover of The Magnolia Palace

Julie Satow Why did I love this book?

This book is a fictionalized story of one of the most sought-after artists' models in New York City in the early decades of the twentieth century and of her relationship with the Frick family, whose paintings and sculptures make up one of Americaā€™s most famous art collections.

I love Fiona Davisā€™ writing, which immediately pulls the reader in, and I canā€™t get enough of this tale of female strength and grit and its peek inside the wondrous world of fine art.

By Fiona Davis,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Magnolia Palace as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue, returns with a tantalizing novel about the secrets, betrayal, and murder within one of New York City's most impressive Gilded Age mansions.

Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, twenty-one-year-old Lillian Carter's life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists' models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge. Butā€¦


Book cover of Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era

Julie Satow Why did I love this book?

This is the book behind the popular FX Series Feud: Vs. The Swans. It is a well-reported history of Truman Capoteā€™s friendships with several famous socialites, like Babe Paley and CZ Guest, and how they came to despise the author after he published a thinly veiled accounting of their lives. In my opinion, the book is much better than the television series and gives a much more accurate account of what happened.

By Laurence Leamer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Capote's Women as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SUNDAY TIMES 'SUMMER BOOKS' CHOICE

Readers LOVE Capote's Women:

'A genuinely fascinating account of a great writer and his muses.'
'Loved it! Fabulous book about a extremely complicated and complex character.'
'You won't want to put this down.'

'There are certain women,' Truman Capote wrote, 'who, though perhaps not born rich, are born to be rich.'
These women captivated and enchanted Capote - he befriended them, received their deepest confidences, and ingratiated himself into their lives. From Barbara 'Babe' Paley to Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy's sister) they were the toast of mid-century New York, each beautiful and distinguished in herā€¦


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Book cover of The Model Spy: Based on the True Story of Toto Koopmanā€™s World War II Ventures

The Model Spy by Maryka Biaggio,

The Model Spy is based on the true story of Toto Koopman, who spied for the Allies and Italian Resistance during World War II.

Largely unknown today, Toto was arguably the first woman to spy for the British Intelligence Service. Operating in the hotbed of Mussolini's Italy, she courted dangerā€¦

Book cover of The Best of Everything

Julie Satow Why did I love this book?

I canā€™t get enough of this novel about a group of young women making their way into the world of publishing in New York City. A window into what it was like to find a career, fall in love, and negotiate life as a single woman in the big city in the 1950s, Rona Jaffeā€™s book was a watershed when it was published in 1958. I think it should be required reading for all women, regardless of whether they work in publishing, or have ever lived in New York. 

Who are you, and why do you have expertise or a passion for the topic/theme/mood of the book list you created?

By Rona Jaffe,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Best of Everything as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Rona Jaffe's beloved novel about 1950s NYC women in the workplace that paved the way for the #MeToo movement and iconic cultural touchstones like Sex and the City and Mad Men, now for the first time in Penguin Classics, in a 65th anniversary edition with an introduction by New Yorker staff writer Rachel Syme
 
A Penguin Classic
 
When Rona Jaffeā€™s superb page-turner was first published in 1958, it changed contemporary fiction forever. Some readers were shocked, but millions more were electrified when they saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing company. Sixty-fiveā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Book cover of When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

What is my book about?

My book follows three women who battle sexism, corporate hierarchies, and complex love lives to become presidents of some of Americaā€™s most famous department stores and, in the process, change American fashion forever. 

Hortense Odlum was a housewife who had never held a paying job before her wealthy husband appointed her president of the nearly bankrupt Bonwit Teller during the depths of the Great Depression. Dorothy Shaver was from small-town Arkansas, rose to president of Lord & Taylor, and was the first businesswoman ever to earn a $1 million salary. Geraldine Stutz was from a strict Catholic family who parlayed a successful fashion magazine editor career to take over Henri Bendel when she was just 32 years old. 

Book cover of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman
Book cover of The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free
Book cover of The Magnolia Palace

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A Theory of Expanded Love by Caitlin Hicks,

Trapped in her enormous, devout Catholic family in 1963, Annie creates a hilarious campaign of lies when the pope dies and their family friend, Cardinal Stefanucci, is unexpectedly on the shortlist to be elected the first American pope.

Driven to elevate her family to the holiest of holy rollers inā€¦

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Then The Trees Said Hello by HJ Corning,

Two women separated by time learn what happens when they embrace their inner magic in this inspiring environmental fiction novel. 

Although Sara's college degree provided her an out, she always knew sheā€™d return home to the small logging community that is like family to her. But when she learns theā€¦

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