City of Girls

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Gilbert

Narrated by: Blair Brown

Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

An Instant New York Times Best Seller!

From the number-one best-selling author of Eat Pray Love and The Signature of All Things, a delicious novel of glamour, sex, and adventure, about a young woman discovering that you don't have to be a good girl to be a good person.

"A spellbinding novel about love, freedom, and finding your own happiness." (PopSugar)

"Intimate and richly sensual, razzle-dazzle with a hint of danger." (USA Today)

"Pairs well with a cocktail...or two." (TheSkimm)

"Life is both fleeting and dangerous, and there is no point in denying yourself pleasure, or being anything other than what you are."

Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love.

In 1940, 19-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves - and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest.

Now 89 years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life - and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time", she muses. "After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is." Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.

©2019 Elizabeth Gilbert (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Blair Brown delivers a superb narration of Elizabeth Gilbert's novel, which features the recollections of a 95-year-old New York seamstress who came of age during WWII. Brown's straightforward, charming depiction illuminates the vivacious young woman the wistful elderly narrator remembers, and her conversational pacing creates vibrant pictures for the listener." (AudioFile Magazine)

"With all the conversations about sexual consent, it's risen up around the #MeToo movement... This author doesn't want us to forget there's also such a thing as female desire, the main character wants to have sex and she's not shy about hunting for it." (Whoopi Goldberg, The View "Ladies Get Lit Summer Reads 2019'")

"Delightful…Terrific characters, gorgeous clothing, great one-liners, convincing wartime atmosphere, and excellent descriptions of sex…Don't miss out on her wonderful novels any longer." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"Gilbert takes us to New York City in the glamorous 1940s, where the sex was plentiful and showgirls just wanted to have fun." (Oprahmag.com)

A strong story

I don't give my devotion easily; in fact, I'm probably quite a picky reader. So it thrills me to no end to once again bestow the highest mark to Liz Gilbert for one of her books: City of Girls. I loved it! It made me cringe, and it made me cry, it made me laugh, and it made me want to move to New York City in the 1940s :) I'm so glad I got to go on this journey Liz, just like I loved the journey of The Signature of All Things.
And as Liz would say:
Onwards <3

For All Women who want to be free

You may think, in the beginning, that this book is about sexual liberation, and it is. But then, the more you listen, you realize this is a book about being a woman in all stages, facing all the tough choices. It's for women who are mothers and struggle. It's for women who don't want children and need understanding. It's for the heartbroken and the grieving, those who've made catastrophic mistakes and lived into a new kind of wholeness. It's beautiful and took my whole heart. The narrator is fantastic!!

Fun. Funny. Intriguing. FRESH!

This is the best book I've read in a while. So refreshing! Humorous, sexy and also deep. But in a refreshing way. So many layers to this book. Did not want it to end. Vivian will live in my brain for a LONG time, happily.

delightful

stunning performance and story- helped me envision a different era of 19%02 New York city

Good Book

Very nice story, well written, interesting characters. Narration made the audio book. I would love to see it as an HBO mini series. The fashions through the decades would be so fun in addition to the story.

Refreshing historical perspective on alternative lifestyles centered around WWII

This book offers a perspective I’ve never read in any other book. An innocent and accepting view of NY & NYC starting just before the beginning of WWII. Theater, sex, alcohol, love, pioneers, lesbians, true compassion, intelligent women and men, all wrapped up into the pre-WWII world and the after math of the that war.

Not a fan of this story

Vivian’s character never rang true to me. She was a mishmash of absurdity. On the surface you would think that she was deep thinker but in fact she was just a shallow firefly flitting through life with no real purpose. I thought her a fraud and totally unrelatable.

Heartfelt and Amazing

This is one of the most amazing and powerful novels I have ever listened to. Just amazing... in huge full tears by the end.

Great storyteller

Part way through this book I went back to verify that this is a move because the story was so rich I thought who could make this up? The authors use of language was carefully chosen so as to be even more colorful and humorous than the story itself. I laughed many times throughout.

Fun story!

I read some reviews on Amazon that were very harsh. This is just a fun story that all comes together in the end. I found it to be entertaining, even if it was predictable at some points. The narrator was excellent and how the characters learn and grow through the story makes it relatable. Elizabeth Gilbert did a great job of keeping me interested and her writing at points made me really appreciate her eloquence.