Ebook Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann
Knowing the method the best ways to get this book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann is also useful. You have actually remained in best site to start getting this information. Obtain the Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann web link that we give right here and also check out the link. You can get the book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann or get it when possible. You could swiftly download this Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann after getting deal. So, when you require the book quickly, you can straight receive it. It's so very easy and so fats, right? You need to like to this way.
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann
Ebook Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann
Exactly how if your day is begun by reading a publication Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann Yet, it remains in your gadget? Everybody will constantly touch and us their device when getting up and also in morning activities. This is why, we mean you to also read a book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann If you still confused how you can get the book for your gadget, you can follow the way below. As below, we offer Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann in this internet site.
Certainly, to enhance your life top quality, every book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann will certainly have their specific lesson. Nonetheless, having specific awareness will make you feel a lot more positive. When you really feel something happen to your life, occasionally, reviewing publication Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann can help you to make calm. Is that your genuine pastime? Occasionally of course, yet occasionally will be uncertain. Your choice to check out Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann as one of your reading e-books, could be your correct book to review now.
This is not about just how much this e-book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann costs; it is not also regarding exactly what kind of e-book you truly love to read. It has to do with exactly what you could take and obtain from reading this Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann You could like to choose various other publication; however, it does not matter if you attempt to make this e-book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann as your reading choice. You will certainly not regret it. This soft file book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann can be your good buddy regardless.
By downloading this soft file e-book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann in the online web link download, you are in the 1st step right to do. This website truly provides you ease of how you can get the ideal book, from best seller to the new released publication. You could find a lot more publications in this site by seeing every link that we offer. Among the collections, Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann is among the very best collections to sell. So, the very first you obtain it, the initial you will get all favorable regarding this e-book Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, By Stephanie Lehmann
When a New York City vintage clothing shop owner’s recent purchases contain a hidden journal from 1907, her entire life will be turned upside down in this “insightful, charming, and wholly entertaining novel” (Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner).
Amanda Rosenbloom, proprietor of Astor Place Vintage, thinks she’son just another call to appraise and possibly purchase clothing from a wealthy, elderly woman. But after discovering a journal sewn into a fur muff, Amanda gets much more than she anticipated. The pages of the journal reveal the life of Olive Westcott, a young woman who had moved to Manhattan in 1907. Olive was set on pursuing a career as a department store buyer in an era when Victorian ideas, limiting a woman’s sphere to marriage and motherhood, were only beginning to give way to modern ways of thinking. As Amanda reads the journal, her life begins to unravel until she can no longer ignore this voice from the past. Despite being separated by one hundred years, Amanda finds she’s connected to Olive in ways neither could ever have imagined.
- Sales Rank: #64657 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-06-11
- Released on: 2013-06-11
- Format: Kindle eBook
Amazon.com Review
Author One-on-One: Stephanie Lehman and Lauren Willig
A native New Yorker, Lauren Willig thoroughly enjoyed getting to travel back in time to a different point in the city's history with Stephanie Lehman's Astor Place Vintage (although she will confess to owning no vintage clothing of her own, unless one counts the relics from college at the back of her closet). Lauren Willig is the author of eleven novels, all of which go back and forth between past and present: the bestselling Pink Carnation series, set between the Napoleonic Wars in the early nineteenth century and London in 2004, and her new stand-alone novel, the New York Times bestseller The Ashford Affair, which zig-zags back and forth between Edwardian England, World War I London, 1920s Kenya, and 1999 New York.
Q. What inspired you to write Astor Place Vintage?
A. My biggest inspiration for Astor Place Vintage is the metropolis of Manhattan. Ever since moving here from San Francisco, I’ve been fascinated, especially through the architecture, by how much the past still asserts itself into the city’s present. It’s so easy to imagine people from a hundred years ago walking down the same streets and living in the same buildings. This sense of shared space between two time periods really captured my imagination.
The first decade of the 20th century particularly attracted me because it was an amazing time of transition. Horses clipped-clopped on the streets while subways ran underground. Vaudeville theaters showed moving pictures. Lots of Victorian attitudes were still enforced, like restaurants that seated unescorted women in separate dining rooms and hotels that refused to rent them rooms. Meanwhile, women were increasingly working outside the home and experiencing unprecedented independence in a booming urban environment that encouraged everyone, male or female, to become avid consumers -- especially in those big new department stores.
Q. I loved how you brought us into the life of Olive in early 20th century New York City. How did you discover so many details about department stores at the time?
A. I spent a lot of time at the New York Public Library’s Science, Industry and Business branch on 34th Street. Ironically, this is located in what used to be the B. Altman Department Store. They have a huge collection of trade magazines from the era like Dry Goods Economist and Corset and Underwear Review, so I was going straight to the sources. I even found some Siegel-Cooper employee newsletters from that period on microfilm. I also read every novel to be found that had the setting of a department store.
Q. Amanda’s Astor Place Vintage felt like a real vintage store to me! Do you visit vintage clothing stores often? Do you have a favorite?
A. I’ve been attracted to vintage for years, and it has not been good for my closet situation. When you’re constantly fighting the urge to buy one of those portable clothing racks that people use for big parties, you know you’re in trouble. Amanda’s store is modeled on some shops I like in the East Village. But I enjoy digging for buried treasure, so I buy most of my vintage clothing at thrift stores and flea markets.
Q. Amanda works so diligently to restore some of the old garments she acquires. Do you sew also?
A.Though I’m not nearly as proficient as Amanda, I do love to sew, and this is actually a recent development that occurred in the process of writing the novel. You could say I aspired to be more like the character I was creating. I discovered that the break from words, sentences, and computer screens is like a mental vacation. Plus, as a novelist, it can take years to complete your project, but you can sew a dress in a few days, wear it, and have that gratification.
Q. What’s your favorite item of vintage clothing in your wardrobe?
A.I see you’ve saved the hardest question for last. After much deliberation, I’m going to say that it’s a Marimekko/Design Research sixties shift dress that I wheedled from my mother. I even have a home movie of her wearing it when I was little. Too bad it won’t fit until I lose those five pounds I’ve been trying to get rid of for the past ten years.
Review
“A thoroughly engaging story about fate, struggle, and will, as told through the intertwined lives of two women in New York living a century apart. Past and present blur in unexpected ways in this insightful, charming, and wholly entertaining novel." (Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner)
“Lehmann’s blend of past and present perfectly woven together create an addictively readable novel. New York City will never look the same to me after reading Astor Place Vintage.” (Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House)
"This soul-searching journey of two women magically connected though time is spellbinding. I was transported by every moment.” (Marjorie Hart, author of Summer at Tiffany)
"Stephanie Lehman's Astor Place Vintage is a fascinating tour of turn of the century New York. Guaranteed to appeal to anyone who likes to search for the bones of the past beneath the bustle of the present." (Lauren Willig, author of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation)
“A novel bound to be next summer's guilty pleasure! I love Amanda and Olive and how we come to understand what links them despite the passage of time. I love what Lehmann has done with the 1907 city--how real it is.” (Beverly Swerling, author of City of Promise)
“This utterly engrossing novel gives us a portrait of one of the most fascinating cities in the world where long after the book has ended you will walk the streets in your mind.” (Stephanie Cowell, author of Claude and Camille and American Book Award recipient)
"A splendid banquet of fashion, style, and both old and contemporary New York City, couched in a riveting story. A feast not to be missed!” (Lynn Cullen, author of The Creation of Eve)
"Anyone who loves vintage clothing, feels the pull of nostalgia, and has a taste for retro will be utterly transported by this wise and wonderful novel. A mesmerizing story about two women separated by a century but united by a quest for independence, a talent for business, and the challenges of being a woman that arise in every era." (Pamela Redmond, author of The Possibility of You)
“The past meets the present in Lehmann's work of feminist literary fiction. . . . The author combines an impressive knowledge of history, sociology and psychology to create an intellectually and emotionally rewarding story.” (Kirkus)
"Lehmann does a seamless job of moving between the past and present and gives a definite sense of place to the story’s two periods, with rich descriptions of city life and architecture. First-class storytelling with an enticing dose of New York City history." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
About the Author
Stephanie Lehmann received her BA at UC Berkeley and a MA in English from New York University. She has taught novel writing at Mediabistro and online at Salon.com, where her essays have been published. She currently lives in New York City. Visit her online at StephanieLehmann.com and AstorPlaceVintage.com.
Most helpful customer reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
A great debut from Stephanie Lehmann!
By H. Barlow
I received an electronic copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
There are so many things I loved about this book...the switching between 1907 and 2007, the vintage clothing, finding out about New York City at the turn of the century, what women endured and how they were expected to act in the early 1900's. I don't think there was even a slight chance that I wouldn't enjoy reading ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE.
Amanda Rosenbloom was an extremely likeable character I even let her off for being involved with a married man, a huge no-no in my book! Why waste your time chasing and spending time with someone who will never truly be yours, I've never understood that. Anyway, Amanda eventually arrives at the same conclusion - the fact that she is wasting away her best years with a man she will never marry or raise a family with - so an aspect of Amanda's side of the story involves meeting a new guy.
On collecting her latest finds for her vintage clothing store, Astor Place Vintage, Amanda stumbles upon a journal from 1907, she wonders if she should read it since she is so intrigued by that era or return it (sounds familiar? - girl finds diary struggles with her conscience over reading it, see my review of Golden here). What Amanda finds in the journal is an account of life in New York City in 1907 written by Olive Westcott, a high society woman with ambitions to have a career as a buyer in a time when women of her background don't work.
Soon after completing the rather large purchase of vintage clothing from Jane Kelly, her landlord calls informing her that the lease will not be renewed. Business is good but not so great that Amanda can find another well-priced space in New York City, so she must find a way to keep Astor Place Vintage going!
The chapters switch between Amanda in the present and Olive in the past, representing Amanda reading Olive's journal. Amanda begins to have vivid dreams based on the entries in Olive's journal, she also begins to notice older buildings and link them to Olive when she is wandering around Manhattan.
Olive's father runs a Woolworth's and is offered the manager's position at the flagship NYC store, so they move together from the suburbs to a Manhattan apartment. When Olive's father dies prematurely she is left with no inheritance and must find work. She also is forced to move out of her home as single women are not allowed to live in that particular building.
It was interesting to read about all the "rules" women had to follow in the 1900's, they really weren't able to make many choices and were expected to marry, raise a family and look after their husband. Olive didn't want to follow these antiquated rules and was of the thinking that women deserved more rights.
Towards the end Amanda realizes just how connected she is to Olive and how this connection could help save her business.
By the time I come to pick my top reads of 2013 I am going to have such a hard time! I seem to be proclaiming every book I finish at the moment "the best so far this year" and we are only half way through! ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE is one of the best books I have read this year and probably beyond that. It's history, it's relationships, it's clothes...and the writing! If I didn't know otherwise I would have no clue that this was STEPHANIE LEHMANN'S debut novel, the writing is superb, the descriptions spot on. And I have looked a few things up, since I live so close to NYC I was interested in the history. It is clear that she put a whole lot of research into this outstanding story! I can't wait to see what she releases next.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
You CANNOT tell this book by it's cover...it's so much better!
By SpunStories B.
I was given a paperback copy of ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE by the author, Stephanie Lehmann, in exchange for an honest opinion.
I have to admit that when I finally began to read it, I had low expectations, mainly because of the cover. But I'll get to that in a moment.
This is a well-written engaging novel that is hard to put down. ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE is a braided story of two women, Amanda living in NYC in 2007, and Olive, living in New York City in 1907. Unlike some books, in which the modern part is less interesting than the historical part, Ms. Lehmann has made both parts equally strong. Both Olive and Amanda are compelling characters, partly because they have flaws, they make mistakes, and they both have to struggle to earn a living as single women.
It is obvious that Ms. Lehmann is a gifted researcher. The 1907 part of the novel was replete with fascinating facts about how hard it was to survive at that time as a single woman. But, unlike some authors, Ms. Lehmann has used that information to pull you into that world.
This novel is a treat to read. Ms. Lehmann is a combination of a gifted storyteller and a gifted researcher, two sets of skills that are very different, and more commonly than not, do not go together in the same person. I am sure that she is going to have a very successful career as an historical novelist.
Now to that cover. I don't think Touchstone/Simon & Schuster is doing Ms. Lehmann any favors. It simply doesn't convey the message of the story at all. Instead of marketing this book as a serious look at women's issues, it gives the impression that this is yet another fluffy chick-lit yarn.
My recommendation would be to keep the gorgeous black and white photo in the background, but remove the foreground figure and all the pink, and instead replace it with two faces looking at each other, modern Amanda and 1907 Olive. You CANNOT tell this book by its cover! Five stars.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Synchronicity in New York City - between 1907 and 2007; and Olive and Amanda
By Cheryl Stout
What an excellent, well-written book this is!
"Astor Place Vintage" is actually two stories, tying into one, both taking place in New York City. The story is told in alternating chapters, with Amanda Rosenbloom living in The City in 2007 and owning and running Astor Place Vintage, buying and selling vintage clothing and accessories; and Olive Westcott, who has lived a privileged life, moving to The City with her father in 1907, wanting to become a department store buyer.
The novel does a wonderful job in allowing the reader glimpses into both woman's lives (we get to see a lot of Olive's life through a journal found by Amanda) showing the differences but also the similarities between the women in the story and also in the time periods.
There is a synchronicity in the women's lives that intertwined throughout the story, culminating in some surprises for both women.
What made "Astor Place Vintage" so special to me? Intricately drawn characters that felt very real - like women (and men) I'd like to know in real life, a plotline that kept me guessing and flipping pages as quickly as I could possibly read, surprising details of 1907 customs and mores, and reproductions of marvelous vintage photographs of The City adding a nice depth to the story.
NOTE: I was given an Advanced Reading Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review - and I am so glad that I was.
See all 187 customer reviews...
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann PDF
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann EPub
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann Doc
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann iBooks
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann rtf
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann Mobipocket
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann Kindle
? Ebook Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann Doc
? Ebook Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann Doc
? Ebook Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann Doc
? Ebook Astor Place Vintage: A Novel, by Stephanie Lehmann Doc
