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“Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.” — Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation by George Washington
Rules of Civility, the debut novel from investment banker turned novelist Amor Towles, takes its name from this code of ethics written by America’s first president in the days of his youth. The novel’s narrator, the stylishly named Katey (née Katya) Kontent, is a Brooklyn born daughter of Russion immigrants, who is working as a secretary and living in a boardinghouse with her closest friend Eve at the time that we meet her. The novel begins with the two women celebrating New Year’s (1938) at a cocktail bar in the village, where they run into a handsome banker, Tinker (née Theodore) Grey, who transports them into the upper echelons of New York society. Both the women vie for his romantic attention, before an accident injuring Eve throws her into Tinker’s arms once and for all.
While following Eve and Tinker’s adventures around Europe in the gossip columns, Katey leaps from her secretarial position to an editorial assistant job at a flashy new Condé Nast metropolitan magazine. Reporting on society gossip becomes Katey’s business, and she descends deeper and deeper into Manhattan high society, engaging in some brief romantic flings and even some enduring friendships. Katey periodically runs into Anne Grandyn, a widow who Tinker calls his godmother, who becomes a model for Katey of how refined society women behave. Complications that arise between Tinker and Eve, which come to involve Anne and Katey alike, throw everything out of balance and give Katey a new perspective on a world she once considered glamorous. The novel is framed as a reminiscence, a now middle-aged Katey who is happily married in 1966 recalls her associations with these fascinating cast of characters in the late 30’s, giving her narration a knowing and wise air.
What is perhaps most rewarding about the novel is its championing of female autonomy. Eve’s motto, “I’m willing to be under anything … as long as it isn’t somebody’s thumb”, actually extends to many of the female characters in the book. Tinker, the rags-to ritches Gatsby figure is actually a glorified escort, financially supported by Anne. The novel celebrates the different ways that women could exert influence in pre-WWII New York society—how headstrong women like Eve could choose their own adventures, how clever women like Kate could climb the corporate ladder, and how seasoned women like Anne could explore their sexuality. This is certainly a novel about a patriarchal society that undervalues the contributions of females and encourages them to seek fulfillment through marriage, but Towles offers a compelling portrayal of how women were able to push against these norms.
Rules of Civility is a smartly written escape into a glamorous society in a bygone era. It is a clever comedy of manners, but also a meditation on beauty and fulfillment. It is a celebration of aliveness and humility, cautioning readers to smell the roses rather than lose themselves in the rat race. As one character remarks, “Most of us shell our days like peanuts, one in a thousand can look at the world with amazement.” Rules of Civility is one in a thousand.