The Manhattan Girls

 The Manhattan Girls

by

Gill Paul

Blog Tour

It's always a delight to host Gill's books on my blog as I have loved all of her previous ones and it’s a pleasure to be kicking off the blog tour for the Manhattan Girls. You can read my review below.

New York City, 1921

An impossible dream. The war is over, the twenties are roaring, but in the depths of the city that never sleeps, Dorothy Parker is struggling to make her mark in a man’s world. A broken woman. She’s penniless, she’s unemployed and her marriage is on the rocks when she starts a bridge group with three extraordinary women – but will they be able to save her from herself? A fight for survival. When tragedy strikes, and everything Dorothy holds dear is threatened, it’s up to Peggy, Winifred and Jane to help her confront the truth before it’s too late. Because the stakes may be life or death… 

Review

This story centres around four women by the names of Dorothy Parker (Dottie), Jane Grant, Winifred Lenihan (Winnie) and Peggy Leech and their different lives, but how they become friends.

 It is set during the roaring 20's in New York City  where women are dominated by men and so these determined bunch of women set up their own bridge club. This is during the prohibition period, so no alcohol was supposed to be consumed and the girls also find a way of getting contraband alcohol for their bridge club sessions!

Dottie is married to Eddie, but all is not well within the marriage and when things deteriorate, Dottie struggles with life and even though she has her friends at the bridge club, she feels alone and helpless.

Jane is a reporter and is married to Howard.

Winifred is an actress and is constantly fighting off the lecherous men who tell her they can make her a star, but just want to use her.

Peggy works for a magazine and dreams of writing a novel. 

This is a story of how women in the 20's had to watch their backs, but these were determined women who wanted to make a difference and what I loved about the book was the way it was brilliantly researched and I loved the wording that was used, especially words like gumption and speakeasy! such great words of the era.

I must admit, when I see a book with a list of characters at the front, it always fills me with fear that I will forget who the characters are, but this book wasn't like that at all and was easy to get in to. 

Again, the author has written a book about people that I find myself googling to find out more about and also leaves me eagerly awaiting the next one!

Thank you Gill for always writing such amazing books about people that we wouldn't necessarily know much about.

About the Author

Gill Paul is an author of historical fiction, specialising in the twentieth century and often writing about the lives of real women. Her novels have topped bestseller lists in the US and Canada as well as the UK and have been translated into twenty languages. The Secret Wife has sold over half a million copies and is a bookclub favourite worldwide. This is her twelfth novel. She is also the author of several non-fiction books on historical subjects. She lives in London and swims year-round in a wild pond.