Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, 2011

Critically acclaimed, Rules of Civility made it to my library reserve list a few years back, but I could not get enough interest to read it.

Having just read Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow, I knew I wanted to read this book.  However, same struggle to begin the novel for some reason.

Once I did start the book though, I was transfixed and was transported to another world, as told from the self-aware, wry voice of Katey Kontent.

Set in the year 1938 in Manhattan, Katey and her friend Eve Ross are boardinghouse friends who meet banker Tinker Grey on New Year's Eve.

Tinker proves to be Katey's and Eve's entree into the moneyed and privileged society of Manhattan, where all is not as it seems.

Like A Gentleman in Moscow, Rules of Civility is filled with inventive story lines, snappy dialog and great sentences like:  "...in moments of high emotion - whether they're triggered by anger or envy, humiliation or resentment - if the next thing you're going to say makes you feel better, then it's probably the wrong thing to say."

Memorable and surprising characters who Katey encounters include Anne Grandyn (Tinker's "god-mother"), Wallace Wolcott, Dicky Vanderwhile and Hank Grey.  Through chance encounters and a little proactiveness, Katey powers through her 20s to happily settle into a career and marriage.