City of Girls

"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 ninety-five 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.

„Viata este in acelasi timp trecatoare si periculoasa si nu are rost sa-ti refuzi placerea sau sa fii altceva decat ceea ce esti.” Indragita autora Elizabeth Gilbert revine la fictiune cu o poveste de dragoste unica in lumea teatrului din New York in timpul Anii 1940. Spusa din perspectiva unei femei mai in varsta, in timp ce se uita inapoi la tinerete atat cu placere, cat si cu regret (dar mai ales placere), City of Girls exploreaza teme despre sexualitatea si promiscuitatea feminina, precum si idiosincrasia adevaratei iubiri. In 1940, nouasprezece -Vianian Morris, de doar un an, tocmai a fost alungata de la Vassar College, datorita performantei sale neobisnuite din primul an.