Life Can Change in an Instant

If you are a fan of Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow, you will surely love his debut work, Rules of Civility. Katey and Evelyn are two best friends and roommates, out on the town for New Years Eve 1937. The two dress in their best dresses, sharing clothing with the other women from their boarding house, and head to a jazz club. A night that will shape the course of their entire year. They meet Tinker Grey, a smartly dressed gentlemen who obviously comes from a wealthy background, and the women become entangled in an unsaid love triangle of sorts. The story has many twists and turns, without giving too much away, and really shows the glamour of New York City in the 1930s for some, and how social structures change the lifestyle one can have in an instant. There are many interesting characters in this book, from the musicians in the clubs they frequent, to the rich socialites, to the struggling artists they meet along the way. The novel follows the three main characters over the course of 1938, and through it all you as the reader will be sucked into their world, not knowing exactly whose side you’re on.