rules of civility by amor towles summary

Katey is a secretary at Quiggin & Hale, a law firm, but soon she realizes that the job is a dead end and a disservice to the dreams her father had when he had left Russia for America. Tinker moves Eve into his luxury apartment, feeling obligated to take care of her. Tinker seems attracted to Katey, but then the three are in a car accident that seriously injures Eve. Katey and her friend, Eve Ross, meet Tinker on New Year's Eve in 1937, and the three develop a friendship. The other image, taken in 1939, features Tinker in threadbare clothing but with a hint of a smile.

One image, taken in 1938, features Tinker in cashmere but not necessarily happy. All of the images had been taken in the late 1930s and early 1940s on New York subways, with a hidden camera. Katey sees two images of Tinker at an art exhibit. Tinker had been important to her in 1938.

Katey Kontent narrates her own journey through the year 1938, from the future perspective of 1966, after she runs upon photographs of a man named Tinker Grey.

The novel's appendix includes the 110 rules, a guide that Edith Wharton would never need consult.'Rules of Civility,' the first novel by Amor Towles, chronicles a transitional year in the life of a young woman in Manhattan. Grey's primer on social advancement is no less than that of Founding Father George Washington, whose 'Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation' becomes his do-it-yourself charm school. Katey's guide through society is Tinker Grey, a more interesting and complex character than his cashmere coat and monogrammed lighters and cases might suggest. With this bit of a wink, Towles conveys that he will be playing with some of the great themes of love and class, luck and fated encounters that animated Wharton novels such as 'The House of Mirth' and 'The Age of Innocence.' Towles' central figure, Katey Kontent (a great name) - born Katya to Russian immigrant parents in Brooklyn - travels in and out of America's world of privilege with wit and an eye for irony. Snow powders Washington Square's trees, gates and brownstones as the curtain is drawn back and 'the ghost of Edith Wharton looked out with shy envy,' writes Towles. In the first few pages of 'Rules of Civility,' Amor Towles' wonderful debut novel, it's New Year's Eve in Manhattan, with 1938 a few hours away.

Rules of civility by amor towles summary