Synopses & Reviews
“It's a gem of a story.”—Laura Moriarty, author of The Chaperone
“This tale of big dreams, drop-dead glamour, and fragile hearts will have you turning pages late into the night. A timeless story inventively set at that midcentury moment in New York City when what it meant to be a woman began to change in ways great and small.”—Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black
"A fascinating joyride through 1955 Manhattan, Searching for Grace Kelly is the Mad Men of the world of the Barbizon."—Lynn Cullen, author of Mrs. Poe
For a small-town girl with big-city dreams, there is no address more glamorous than New York’s Barbizon Hotel. Laura, a patrician beauty from Smith, arrives to work at Mademoiselle for the summer. Her hopelessly romantic roommate, Dolly, comes from a working-class upstate town to attend secretarial school. Vivian, a brash British bombshell with a disregard for the hotel’s rules, rounds out the trio of friends. Together, the girls embark on a journey of discovery that will take them from the penthouse apartments of Park Avenue to the Beat scene of Greenwich Village to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier — and into the arms of very different men who will alter their lives forever.
"Reading Searching for Grace Kelly is like watching your favorite old Hollywood movie, filled with colorful characters, funny moments, tender scenes, and plenty of intrigue."—John Searles, author of Help for the Haunted
“Callahan recreates the dazzle of New York in the 1950s, but he also captures something much more subtle and elusive: the feeling of the era, and the sense of how people thought about the world and each other. It's a pitch-perfect novel."—Roberta Rich, author of Midwife of Venice
Review
"Thanks to Callahan's flawless evocation of the place and time, you understand how high the stakes are for these women, who have to break every rule their mothers taught them to discover who they really are."
—More
"Perfect for your next girls' night."
—Good Housekeeping
"Callahan, who has convincingly researched the era. . .writes page-turning prose and gets the characters' big arcs right."
—ELLE
"You'll rip through this novel, inspired by Grace Kelly's pre-princess Barbizon stay."
—Marie Claire
"Callahan's debut is a delight."—People Magazine
“The New York of the 1950s shines through Callahan’s pages. His characters’ breathless excitement with their new lives pulls you into that time and place, and his deft plotting holds you there.”
—New York Times Book Review
"[A] deliciously stylish, retro first novel. . .As each woman becomes entangled with mysterious, even dangerous men, Callahan suavely combines literary finesse and pulp fiction to create a fast-moving, heartwrenching tale of romance and tragedy in a time of tyrannically sexist social conventions."
—Booklist
"Callahan’s debut novel truly captures glamorous New York City from young women’s perspective in the 1950s. For aficionados of anything from the Fifties and the movie The Best of Everything (1959)."
—Library Journal
“Callahan has a knack for nailing the perfect detail to take a reader back to a particular time and place; this story of three spirited young women is full of the glamour of New York City's Barbizon Hotel in 1955. The dialogue sings, and the pacing was perfect. It's a gem of a story.”
—Laura Moriarty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chaperone
“A wonderful champagne bubble of a book—glamorous, aspirational, and relatable! The fifties never seemed so fun! Wicked, naughty and clever.”
—Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of Witches of East End
“This tale of big dreams, drop-dead glamour and fragile hearts will have you turning pages late into the night. Michael Callahan tells the timeless story of three very different young women on the cusp of discovering themselves, inventively set at that midcentury moment in New York City when what it meant to be a woman began to change in ways great and small. Suspenseful, sharp and romantic, I loved every minute of it.”
—Piper Kerman, bestselling author of Orange is the New Black
"Reading Searching for Grace Kelly is like watching your favorite old Hollywood movie, filled with colorful characters, funny moments, tender scenes and plenty of intrigue. I was completely charmed by this book!"
—John Searles, bestselling author of Help for the Haunted
"A fascinating joy-ride through 1955 Manhattan, Searching for Grace Kelly is the Mad Men of the world of the Barbizon."
—Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe.
Synopsis
A passionate historical debut novel about a young woman in turn-of-the-century England who finds love and independence at a seashore resort.
ALL BETSEY DOBSON HAS EVER ASKED IS THE CHANCE TO BE VIEWED ON HER OWN MERITS, BUT IN A MAN S WORLD, THAT IS THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN
When Betsey disembarks from the London train in the seaside resort of Idensea, all she owns is a small valise and a canary in a cage. After attempting to forge a letter of reference she knew would be denied her, Betsey has been fired from the typing pool of her previous employer. Her vigorous protest left one man wounded, another jilted, and her character permanently besmirched. Now, without money or a reference for her promised job, the future looks even bleaker than the debacle behind her. But her life is about to change . . . because a young Welshman on the railroad quay, waiting for another woman, is the one man willing to believe in her.
Mr. Jones is inept in matters of love, but a genius at things mechanical. In Idensea, he has constructed a glittering pier that astounds the wealthy tourists. And in Betsey, he recognizes the ideal tour manager for the Idensea Pier & Pleasure Building Company. After a lifetime of guarding her secrets and breaking the rules, Betsey becomes a force to be reckoned with. Now she faces a challenge of another sort: not only to outrun her sins, but also to surrender to the reckless tides of love. . . ."
Synopsis
A passionate historical debut novel about a young woman in turn-of-the-century England who finds love and independence at a seashore resort.In Victorian London, there’s only so far an unmarried woman can go, and Betsey Dobson has relied on her wits and cunning to take herself as far as she can—to a position as a typewriter girl. But still, Betsey yearns for something more…so when she’s offered a position as the excursions manager at a seaside resort, she knows this is her chance for security, for independence, for an identity forged by her own work and not a man’s opinion. Underqualified for the job and on the wrong side of the aristocratic resort owner, Betsey struggles to prove herself and looks to the one person who can support her new venture: Mr. Jones, the ambitious Welshman building the resort’s pleasure fair. As she and Mr. Jones grow ever closer, Betsey begins to dream that she might finally have found her place in the world—but when her past returns to haunt her, she must fight for what she’s worked so hard…or risk losing everything.
This eloquent debut novel displays firm propriety barely restraining seething passion—a sizzling combination reminiscent of Downton Abbey.
Synopsis
ALL BETSEY DOBSON HAS EVER ASKED IS THE CHANCE TO BE VIEWED ON HER OWN MERITS, BUT IN A MAN’S WORLD, THAT IS THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN When Betsey disembarks from the London train in the seaside resort of Idensea, all she owns is a small valise and a canary in a cage. After attempting to forge a letter of reference she knew would be denied her, Betsey has been fired from the typing pool of her previous employer. Her vigorous protest left one man wounded, another jilted, and her character permanently besmirched. Now, without money or a reference for her promised job, the future looks even bleaker than the debacle behind her. But her life is about to change . . . because a young Welshman on the railroad quay, waiting for another woman, is the one man willing to believe in her.
Mr. Jones is inept in matters of love, but a genius at things mechanical. In Idensea, he has constructed a glittering pier that astounds the wealthy tourists. And in Betsey, he recognizes the ideal tour manager for the Idensea Pier & Pleasure Building Company. After a lifetime of guarding her secrets and breaking the rules, Betsey becomes a force to be reckoned with. Now she faces a challenge of another sort: not only to outrun her sins, but also to surrender to the reckless tides of love. . . .
Synopsis
In 1955 New York three spirited young women living at the famed Barbizon Hotel form an unlikely friendship and come of age in the glamorous post-war city that could make—or break—them.
Synopsis
“It's a gem of a story.”—Laura Moriarty, author of The Chaperone
For a small-town girl with big-city dreams, there is no address more glamorous than New York’s Barbizon Hotel. Laura, a patrician beauty from Smith, arrives to work at Mademoiselle for the summer. Her hopelessly romantic roommate, Dolly, comes from a working-class upstate town to attend secretarial school. Vivian, a brash British bombshell with a disregard for the hotel’s rules, rounds out the trio of friends. Together, the girls embark on a journey of discovery that will take them from the penthouse apartments of Park Avenue to the Beat scene of Greenwich Village to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier — and into the arms of very different men who will alter their lives forever.
About the Author
Michael Callahan is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and a former deputy editor at Town & Country and Marie Claire. His articles have been published in more than two dozen national magazines, including Mens Health, Real Simple, Vibe, and Good Housekeeping. Searching for Grace Kelly is his first novel.