The Colony Club by Shelley Noble

Book Talk #16

I’m Mary Ellen, wife, mother, magazine editor, curriculum writer, and book enthusiast. Consider a paid subscription to help support my family and gain access to exclusive content

My mother-in-law is a reader and over this, we have lately bonded. She visits her local library several times a week and will often recommend something she thinks I will like. For my part, I give her books that I have bought and read but don’t feel like they need to be in my home library, which is already bursting. Don’t get my husband started on books, he can’t sit still and talk about the amount I own.

Mom knows of my love for historical fiction and recently recommended The Colony Club by Shelley Noble. It is set in the Gilded Age in New York City at the turn of the last century. Society matron Daisy Harriman endeavors to book a room for herself and her maid at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for a two-night return to the city from her summer home in Newport. Her city mansion is under construction and she needs a few days for summer shopping.

The manager at the hotel explained that the hotel and all the hotels in New York would not book a room for an unaccompanied woman. You needed a man to get into a hotel. Daisy was outraged.

So began the journey of opening the first club for women in the country. A place, similar to the gentleman’s clubs that were all over, where a woman could stay for a few nights, dine with friends, discuss new ideas such as attaining the vote, and organize social and political events.

Noble deftly weaves historical figures such as Daisy Harriman, Elsie de Wolfe, Bess Marbury, and Stanford White with her fictional characters. Stanford White was the architect hired to design the building and Nora, a recent graduate from a women’s architectural college is his assistant. White’s scandalous death (a true story) has an enormous effect on Nora, and the society matrons so invested in the opening of The Colony Club.

This book is well-researched and well-written. I had a hard time putting it down. So far removed are we from these problems that it is hard to imagine a world where a woman can’t book a hotel room, or vote. After a little research I learned the women of The Colony Club were instrumental in passing child labor laws, they marched for safer conditions for the garment workers who were mostly women and mostly immigrants, and campaigned tirelessly for the vote.

This is my first Shelley Nobel book and I put a few more of hers on my list. Have you read any?

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Can you stand another gift guide? A quick literary-themed one? Let’s go.

100 Postcards from Austen to Zola. These Penguin Classic postcards are a fun gift for a literary friend. I like switching them out occasionally on my bulletin board.

A canvas book tote. That you can’t have too many books or tote bags is a philosophy of my life.

Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks. You know I love Dame Agatha and John Curran is a leading expert on her writing. He gives us a solid look at the seventy-three notebooks she jotted her thoughts, plots, methods, and solutions in for over fifty years. It’s a fascinating look into the mind of the Queen of Crime. I return to it often for a little writing inspiration.

Tequila Mockingbird; Cocktails with a Literary Twist. I have this and it’s fun.

Little Book Light. I have had this on my Christmas list for years and no one has ever bought it for me. Maybe someone will buy it for you.

If you know any women of a certain age who enjoy book reviews and general thoughts about life after menopause why not give them the gift of a subscription to this little old Substack? Other subscriptions I highly recommend are:

Rod Dreher’s Diary
Catalog of Enthusiasms
One Deep Drawer
Through A Glass Darkly
Girlfriends

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I have a huge work project that has been occupying my entire brain for weeks now. It will likely finish tomorrow.

I can’t wait.

I need my brain back.

I hope to post more thoughts soon, and I thank you all for sticking with my periodic posting here, I’m very grateful for the support.