City of Girls: A Novel

In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris is expelled from Vassar College and sent by her affluent parents to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns the Lily Playhouse, a flamboyant midtown theater. There, Vivian encounters an array of unconventional characters including showgirls, actors, and theater workers. When Vivian makes a personal mistake that causes professional scandal, it upends her world in ways she takes years to understand. The incident ultimately leads her to a new understanding of the life and freedom she wants to pursue, and to the love of her life. Now eighty-nine years old, Vivian looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret, recalling how those years altered the course of her life and the autonomy with which she lived it. The novel explores themes of female sexuality, love, and personal freedom, set against the backdrop of the New York City theater world during the 1940s.