Books Like City of Girls

Book Summary

Throughout Doris’s life, she’s documented the people she encounters in the same address book. Now, at 96 and living alone in Sweden, she begins looking back through the address book, especially at all those who she has crossed out one by one as they died. In her bittersweet trip down memory lane, she reflects on those who entered her life for various reasons and seasons, each making a mark on who she would become.

Doris sets out to document her life, from working as a maid in Sweden, to modeling in Paris before escaping WWII, to searching for a lost love in Manhattan. By documenting her personal and family past, she hopes to help her only living relative, a grandniece named Jenny.

Book Summary

Few names are as synonymous with chic glamour as Coco Chanel. However, all your opinions of the woman who created the classic little black dress could change after reading this historical fiction account of her entire life.

From her humble beginnings as an orphan to her determination to keep her atelier afloat during WW2, this book details the decisions that led to her lasting name recognition. 

Book Summary

In the 1950s, the glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women is home to a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors who lived side-by-side while trying to claw their way to the top.

But when Darby, one of the residents, befriends a Barbizon maid, she comes to know a different, much seedier side of the city.

More than 50 years later, the Barbizon has turned into condos, but the elderly Darby still lives in her rent-controlled apartment. Darby’s upstairs neighbor – a journalist – can’t help but seek answers about the rumors that Darby was involved in a deadly altercation with the maid all those years ago.

Book Summary

Playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead aim to put up a Broadway show, and they plan to use the Chelsea Hotel – a hot spot for creatives and artists – to get the ball rolling. But they soon discover that the greatest obstacle to producing a Broadway show isn’t the art, but the politics. 

This story spans the 1940s-60s, but it’s centered around the era of McCarthyism in the 1950s. As the Red Scare is sweeping the country, those in the entertainment industry are in the cross-hairs, and there is pressure to point fingers.

Book Summary

It’s 1913, and Laura’s husband is the superintendent of the NY Public Library. The job comes with an apartment in the grand building for the couple and their two children. Laura seems to have it all, but after she enters journalism school at Columbia and has her worldview rocked, she starts to question if the things she has are the things she wants.

Eighty years later, in 1993, Sadie landed her dream job as a curator at the NY Public Library, but her grandmother Laura’s legacy looms over her until she can no longer ignore it.

Book Summary

Evelyn Hugo lived a glamorous and scandalous life, but doesn’t like to talk about it and has become reclusive after leaving her career. When the movie icon is finally ready to talk about her time in show business, she picks an unknown reporter to log her personal history, but why?

You’ll slowly unwrap Evelyn’s life from the 1950s – 1980s as she chronicles her past life and relationships, including the seven husbands she had along the way. As the book covers so much of her life, it moves quickly and will keep you engaged and entertained for hours.

Book Summary

Spanning from 1933 to 1939, and from the streets of Toronto to the shores of Hong Kong, this Canadian historical fiction novel tells the story of a little-known chapter of WWII history.

With the Depression crippling Toronto, 18-year-old Molly puts aside her journalism dreams to work any job she can to help her family get by. But, as the summer of 1933 stretches on, the terrible wave of hate and anti-Semitism sweeping the globe reaches Toronto in the form of “Swastika Clubs” and “No Jews Allowed” signs. On a fateful night in August, tensions reached a boiling point between the local Irish and Jewish communities. The resulting riot has devastating consequences for Molly’s family and that of her best friend, Hannah.

Six years later, Molly is now working as a reporter for the local paper. With the war on the horizon and many people she loves in danger, Molly is forced to confront what happened on that terrible night back in 1933.

Book Summary

Mary Jane tells the story of two very different family lifestyles and a 14-year-old girl trying to decide who she really is. Mary Jane is a quiet, book-loving girl from a traditional, conservative family in 1970s Baltimore. When she is offered a job as a nanny for a local doctor, her mom assumes their home is equally tidy and respectable.

However, the house is a huge mess and it’s about to get crazier. The doctor has welcomed a rock star and his wife to stay at the house while he tries to get sober. Mary Jane has a lot to teach them about tidiness and schedules, and all the while they are opening her eyes to the world outside her bubble. By the end of the summer, she’ll have a much better understanding of who she wants to be.

Book Summary

Built in 1927, the Barbizon hotel was a safe landing space for modern young women from around the country moving to New York searching for independence and fame, a husband, or both. While the book, The Dollhouse, earlier on this list is a historical fiction look at the boarding house/hotel, The Barbizon is an interesting non-fiction look at the lives of the hotel’s many famous residents from 1927-1981.

Book Summary

In 1922, only a few years before becoming a famous actress and an icon for her generation, 15-year-old Louise Brooks left Wichita to make it big in New York. But, much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by Cora Carlisle, a thirty-six-year-old chaperone who is neither mother nor friend. 

Cora is a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip. She has no idea what she’s in for. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together in 1920s New York City will change both of their lives forever.

Book Summary

Spanning much of the 18th & 19th centuries, this book tells the story of the fictional Whittaker family. The patriarch, Henry, begins life as a poor Englishman before making his fortune in South America. He rises to be the wealthiest man in Philadelphia.

His daughter, Alma, gets his money and his great mind. She becomes a botanist who studies the mysteries of evolution while falling in love with a man obsessed with the spiritual realm. She is scientific while he’s an artist. Follow this unlikely couple as their story soars around the globe.

Book Summary

Zora lives in poverty and spends her days caring for her younger siblings. To make extra money for her family, she works as a seamstress, repairing holes and adjusting hems. But as she works, she dreams of living a more glamorous life as a designer like Coco Chanel or Jeanne Lanvin.

Despite Prohibition, Zora’s friend Rose finds a job at an underground speakeasy. When Zora joins her one night, she’s in awe of the sparkling gowns and couples dancing freely. At the club, she meets Harley, a businessman with a life very different than her own. While Harley can provide Zora with a dream life, will her duty to her family allow her to embrace her true ambition?