WHAT THEY SAID about RULES OF CIVILITY: ' Everything about this novel set in 1930s New York is achingly stylish
- from the author's name to the slinky jacket design. Katey Kontent daughter of Russian immigrants & Evie Ross from the sleepy midwest are an ambitious wisecracking pair who despite lack of money & connections aim to set the city alight. A fortuitous meeting with the apparently wealthy Tinker Grey on New Year's Eve 1937 will change the course of both their lives.'
- Guardian ' If you want shopping at Bendel's gin martinis at a debutante's mansion & jazz bands playing until 3am RULES OF CIVILITY has it all & more.. . While you're lost in the whirl of silk stockings furs & hip flasks all you care about is what Katey Kontent does next. Another one bartender please.'
- Observer ' Irresistible.. .A cross between Dorothy Parker & Holly Golightly Katey Kontent is a priceless narrator in her own right
- the brains of a bluestocking with the legs of a flapper & the mores of Carrie Bradshaw.'
- Telegraph ' Towles creates a narrative that sparkles with sentences so beautiful you'll stop & re-read them. A delicious & memorable novel that will leave you wistful.. .and desperate for a martini.'
- Stylist ' My book of the year. If the unthinkable happened & I could never read another new work of fiction in 2011 I'd simply re-read this sparkling stylish book with yet another round of martinis as dry as the author's wit.'
- Herald