Rather like Berlin, a New York setting is catnip for me. I only need to spot it in a novel’s blurb and it’s on my list which is not always a good thing. I’ve only visited the city once but I think it’s more its almost mythical aura that attracts me rather than the actuality not that I didn’t love it when I was there. You can be sure that there’ll be a Berlin post in this series at some stage but for now, 
here are five of my favourite novels set in New York City, a couple with links to reviews on this blog.
Jonathan Galassi’s Muse is all about the New York book world, neatly satisfying two obsessions for me. Paul Dukach conceives a lifelong passion for Ida Perkins’ poetry as a teenager. Thanks to the well-connected Morgan, Paul finds his way into publishing world, soon gaining a reputation for his sharp editorial eye. He’s offered a job by Homer Stern, the louche, foul-mouthed owner of one of the city’s two most revered literary publishing houses, its lists stuffed full of Nobel Prize winners, but it’s Homer’s rival, Sterling Wainwright, who has an iron grip on the rights to Perkins’ work. By the end of the book Paul will have fulfilled his wildest dreams but not without a twinge or two of conscience. A poet and one of the head honchos at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Galassi takes us into the world of literary publishing, replete with gossipy detail and sharply observed satire while posing questions about the nature of literary fame. A smart, funny novel written by a man who knows a thing or three about Paul’s world.
I fell in love with Brightness Falls to such an extent that I remember sending H off for a walk into the lovely Corsican maquis on his own so that I could finish
it. It’s the first in a trilogy which continued with the disappointing The Good Life and finished with Bright, Precious, Days. All three follow Corinne and Russell Calloway, a glittering New York couple. To their friends, theirs is the perfect marriage but when Russell is caught up in an audacious plan to take over the publishing company in which he’s the rising editorial star, things begin to fall apart. The adrenaline-fuelled atmosphere of the deal takes its toll on both Russell and Corrine, just as the excesses of the ’80s have on many others in New York City, from their friend Jeff, now in detox, to the homeless crack addicts on every street corner. The reckoning finally comes on 19 October 1987 when the bubble bursts with the Wall Street crash. Tom Wolfe’s potboiler The Bonfire of the Vanities was often cited as the quintessential yuppie novel but for me Brightness Falls summed up the folly of the ’80s very much better and with a great deal more humanity.
Beginning in early 2001 Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children inhabits similar literary territory to Brightness Falls presenting a portrait of New York through the eyes of three thirty-year-old friends living in Manhattan. All of them once thought they had a bright future but none seems to have fulfilled that promise. Marina has spent the advance she was awarded and has returned home to live with her parents. Julius is subsidised by his boyfriend having failed to support himself with his reviews. Danielle is unemployed and involved with two men, one of whom is Marina’s literary critic father. The attacks of 9/11 throw all the cards up into the air for these three as it did for so many. Published several years after the atrocity, Messud’s novel captures the city both before and after this cataclysmic event in an immersive, satisfying novel.
Anna Quindlen’s Alternate Side takes us from literary New York to residential Manhattan where Charlie is cock-a-hoop
having secured a space in the parking lot of the cul-de-sac where he and Nora have lived for a couple of decades. Theirs is a tightly knit community, tolerant of George, its self-appointed overseer, given to pushing instructions through their letter boxes about what other residents should and should not do. This privileged set of householders looks to the likes of Ricky, the handyman, to keep things ticking over smoothly. One day a shocking act of violence rocks the street, setting off fault lines in relationships that will undermine some irretrievably. With its perceptive exploration of middle-aged marriage, Alternate Side inhabits quintessential Quindlen territory. Overly ambitious comparisons abound in publishers’ blurbs, but Quindlen’s writing really does rank alongside Elizabeth Strout’s and AnnTyler’s for me. If you haven’t yet read her work, I hope you’ll give her try.
Kathleen Rooney’s Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk takes us on a tour of Manhattan on New Year’s Eve in 1984 in the company of an 85-year-old who arrived in New York in the ’30s, beginning her career as a lowly copywriter for Macy’s and ending it as the world’s highest paid woman in advertising. Lillian’s evening has not gone as planned. Instead she decides to go for a stroll, telling us her life story as she walks and through it the story of half a century of New York’s history, encompassing the Jazz Age, the Great Depression and AIDS. I loved this novel which is, apparently, based on the story of Margaret Fishback. Lillian is a wonderfully witty and engaging character. Rooney’s book has a charmingly old-fashioned feel about it which seems a satisfying note to end on for me.
What about you – any favourite New York City novels you’d like to recommend?
If you’d like to explore more posts like this, I’ve listed them here
What a great idea for a post, Susan! I love the sound of all these titles. The first NY book that immediately jumps to mind for me is Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach, which I remember very much enjoying.
Thanks, Liz. I think you enjoyed Manhattan Beach more than I did. A wee bit too long for me but it explored an interesting period.
Lillian Boxfish sounds delightful! I’ll look out for a copy. I’ve never been to NY but I’d love to go, I do like it as a setting in stories. As you say, it has an almost mythical quality.
Lillian is a delight and would make a great comfort read. I hope you enjoy it if you can get your hands on a copy.
I’ve not read any of these, but like the sound of them. The NY-set author who springs to mind first is Paul Auster, with his NY Trilogy being the obvious choice. But maybe Salinger, too – poor Holden C wandering the gloomy streets of the city, messed up and lost. I’ve enjoyed several trips to NYC – it’s such an exciting place.
I loved Auster’s trilogy, although it’s very much a Marmite book. My partner can’t stand it! Salinger’s a good choice, though.
Besides the usual suspects and recs for New York I really liked Louisa Luna’s Serious As A Heart Attack. Great fun and light read with a wonderful lead character.
Thanks for that – not one I’ve come across but I’ll check it out. Fun seems like a good idea right now.
I’ve not read any of your five … but I do have a copy of The Emperor’s Children on the shelf and was thinking of picking it up soon! Your review will spur me on.
Hope you enjoy it, Rebecca. It’s one to lose yourself in.
They used that same top photo for the first UK edition of Beth Gutcheon’s Gossip (which was a fab New York book)! I’ve read so many New York books – it’s the perfect setting for a good novel.
I read that, too, and loved it. It’s a great photo. She looks so chic!
Lovely to see another mention of Lillian Boxfish.
Just noticed that Kathleen Rooney has a new book coming out in August, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45917469-cher-ami-and-major-whittlesey
Oh, I’d not spotted that. Thanks so much, Cathy. Straight on the list!
Mine too!
I’m afraid I haven’t read any of these. In fact, the only one that seems familiar is Lillian Boxfish, which I recall seeing in Daunts a year or two ago. Thanks for the reminder – charmingly old fashioned sounds right up my street!
I think you’d like Lillian, Jacqui. Actually, it’s a Daunt publication. They seem to have a keen eye for interesting books.
That explains its prominence in Daunt’s!
I usually end up buying one of their books when I viist the Marylebone branch.
I can well believe it!
Great Post, I don’t know any of these but Lillian Boxfish takes a walk appeals the most. Your post reminded me of the collected short stories of Grace Paley which are all very New York, and the short novel Desperate Characters by Paula Fox. Heartburn by Nora Ephron is also partly set in New York. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton another favourite.
I’ve read the others but the Grace Paley short stories are new to me. I’ll check them out. Thanks, Ali.
Excellent. I couldn’t get into Lilian–sorry. I loved the idea of the story, just not her. lol
Ah, that’s a shame.
I know the story sounded great. Maybe I’ll try it again in print.
I just love this list! New York is one of my favorite places and, as you said, books ser there are like catnip!
So pleased to hear that, Melissa! Perhsps I’ll be bale to visit it in reality again someday.
I’ve yet to make it to New York but it’s a city that I feel as if I already know from films and novels, and an NYC setting is like booknip to me. Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Amor Towles’ Rules of Civility, Liz Gilbert’s City of Girls and Patti Smith’s M Train are all on my shelves (but as yet unread) partly because of their New York setting.
I’ve not read any of your five, although Lilian Boxfish is somewhere among my TBR piles after the title and cover caught my eye in a bookshop.
The New York-set novels which stand out for me are Washington Square by Henry James, that part of The Bell Jar where Sylvia Plath explores the city during her internship at a magazine, and Mimi by Lucy Ellmann, now rather better known for Ducks Newburyport.
I can vouch for the Chabon and Towles, Kath, and I enjoyed Mimi, too. That setting’s so hard to resist, isn’t it. I also have a weakness for Cape Cod novels.
Yes, same, although I suspect I wouldn’t enjoying socialising with the Cape Cod set in reality.
You and me both!
The two books that popped into my head are Want Not by Jonathan Miles and Time and Again by Jack Finney – loved them both!
Neither of which I’ve heard of which is just what I was hoping for when asking for recommendations! Thanks, Naomi.
A lovely list! The two books that popped into my mind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and a more recent one, The City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I loved The Age of innocence and have the Gilbert on my shelves. Perhaps I should shift it up a little.
I share your fascination. I think it dates to my reading of Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy as a girl. On the non-fiction side, you might enjoy Edwin G. Burrows’ Gotham works. He’s so interesting in interview too (if you love the city). The first one is on my list for 2020, so I’d better get started (it’s loooong). Another that leaps into mind is Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale. And an Alice Hoffman, whose title I’ve forgotten. Okay, better stop now. *laughs*
All recommendations welcome! I’ve spotted lots of references to Harriet the Spy in North American fiction over the years. I assume she’s a much-loved children’s character.
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