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City of Girls

A Novel

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City of Girls

Written by: Elizabeth Gilbert
Narrated by: Blair Brown
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About this listen

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

From the # 1 New York Times bestselling 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, nineteen-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 eighty-nine 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.
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Celebrity New York Heartfelt Theatre
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I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. such an amazing story and so well told. thank-you.

wonderful!

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Loved the reader and the book was amazing! I 100% recommend this book to everyone.

Absolutely amazing book!!!

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From the very beginning I was hooked. Beautifully written and narrated. I reached a point where all I wanted to do was listen this story. I went to bed listening to it, I listened to it in my car, and while I was walking. I loved every minute of it.

Excellent Amazing Riveting

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Wonderful story, amazing narration. This novel takes you back in time and sets a wonderfully nostalgic mood. I loved it!

Amazing!

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It just hit the right note for me as it well written, with interesting characters, a believable story line and well narrated. I was sorry to see it come to an end and I was enjoying the time I spent with all the characters. Hope you do as well.

I loved everything about this book

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