The Manhattan Girls
In 1920s New York, Prohibition is in force, and four women—renowned wit, Dorothy Parker; beautiful and gifted actress, Winifred Lenihan; journalist, Jane Grant; and novelist, Peggy Leech—become friends and start a bridge club. The historical setting is lushly drawn—the Algonquin, known as The Gonk; the lavish Astor Hotel; the women’s flapper outfits; illegal hipflasks and highballs; speakeasies; and dancing to Duke Ellington’s band. The novel is a-slosh with alcohol. Jane Grant has a gin still in her bathtub, interviews bootleggers and is arrested by Prohibition agents midway through the novel.
Dorothy Parker is shown as a fragile personality concealing grief and insecurity behind humour. She has lost her job at Vanity Fair. Her husband returns from ambulance service in World War I on the road to alcoholism and leaves her, and she has an affair with a notorious womaniser that ends in abortion. ‘I put all my eggs in one bastard,’ she remarks. ‘When I fall in love, I turn into the village idiot.’ She makes two suicide attempts and is cared for by the other three women. ‘Your life lurches from drama to crisis,’ Jane tells her, but Dottie keeps up a brittle lifestyle. ‘Growing old is inevitable but growing up is optional.’
Winifred Lenihan has to navigate the threats of sexually predatory directors and lustful gangsters. During the course of the novel, Jane and her husband set up The New Yorker magazine. Peggy is looking for a publisher and a husband. Other characters in their set include the poisonously divisive drama critic Alec Woollcott and the painter Neysa McMein.
This world of literati and budding feminism is vividly drawn by Gill Paul. The overarching theme of the novel is female friendship as the group aid each other through their tribulations. The novel draws us inexorably into the women’s compelling stories.
