By Amor Towles

Thank you to my fellow bibliophile, Tom Connelly, for this one. It is set in NYC in the 1930's. Kate Kontent is an unusually principled, grounded, confident young woman in an era when women are mostly still limited to a very narrow role in society. The story basically covers one year when she moves to NYC and meets a wonderful cast of characters. At times she almost seems to be an observer of the craziness around her but other times she is intricately involved. There are twists and turns I didn't see coming and the character of her friend, Tinker, is clearly a personification of how the relentless pursuit of material wealth will just about ruin anyone in any era. This was a favorite of the year.