Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

In the mid-20th century, when women became more present in the workforce, they would not usually live on their own in apartments. Hotels like the Barbizon 63 in Manhattan became safe havens for young women. Complete with curfews and strict rules, these hotels seem like a family home and kept women safe from the dangers of urban living.

The Barbizon 63, in the Upper East Side, was known as the Barbizon Hotel for Women until it was converted into condos not that long ago. It was featured in an episode of “Mad Men” and on “Agent Carter,” Peggy Carter lived in a hotel that was modeled after the famous residence. Famous entertainers from Liza Minnelli to Joan Crawford to Grace Kelly all spent time living in the Barbizon during its heyday.

Michael Callahan’s debut novel, “Searching for Grace Kelly,” is set in the Barbizon during the mid-1950s. Laura, a Connecticut bred, Smith college girl, lands a summer internship at Mademoiselle magazine and moves into the hotel. There she meets Dolly, a secretarial student from upstate New York, and Vivian, a British girl hoping for her big break as a singer.

The three very different women form a close bond as they navigate life in the hotel, their new jobs and the men that will alter their lives forever.

Each woman narrates chapters of the book, but the story is Laura’s. She isn’t satisfied with her internship, desiring someday to have the job of editor-in-chief. She wants to be a writer and is determined to be successful in that field. She fights against the Stepford life she grew up with, even as the wealthy Box Barnes pursues her.

Son of a department store magnate, Barnes sweeps her off of her feet. He is exactly what her parents want for her future husband: the penthouse apartment, fabulous wealth, handsome and smart. Yet, Laura is torn between Box and Pete, a Greenwich village bartender who encourages her love of reading and writing and her curiosity about the emerging beat culture.

Laura isn’t the only one with love life drama. Dolly meets a young man who frustrates her by his lack of commitment. She is sure he is hiding something from her, like a wife or fiance. Vivian, on the other hand, throws herself headfirst into a relationship with a dangerous mobster who she then cannot extricate herself from.

The months the three women spend together, living at the Barbizon, change their lives forever in different ways.

I enjoyed “Searching for Grace Kelly.” It was a quick read, good for an afternoon at the beach or perfect for a plane ride. The women were realistic (I was surprised that the writer was male!) and while the book doesn’t have the happiest of endings, it was realistic. I would have liked to see more of the Barbizon. There were interesting hints of the culture, but more time could have been spent at the hotel.

Sylvia Plath was a resident of the Barbizon and based “The Bell Jar” on her summer internship at Mademoiselle. I’ve never read Plath’s famous book, but the similarities between it and “Searching for Grace Kelly” seem a little too close. That being said, this novel was an interesting look at a time period and location I didn’t know much about. I found it fascinating. The period era details in terms of clothing and culture added layers of depth to a novel that wasn’t hugely original, but still very entertaining.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_dorothy-3.jpg.optimal.jpg

“Searching for Grace Kelly” is about three young woman living in a posh hotel in Manhattan during the mid-2oth century.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_thumbnail_Grace-Kelly.jpg.optimal.jpg“Searching for Grace Kelly” is about three young woman living in a posh hotel in Manhattan during the mid-2oth century.

By Dorothy Sasso

On the Books

“Searching for Grace Kelly”

Author: Michael Callahan

Page count: 288

Publisher: Mariner Books

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Dorothy Sasso is a former Soap Opera Digest writer and a private school teacher. She is busy reading books and raising her two daughters.