Book Review: the Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark

DO you remember the movie My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn? It was based on the Broadway musical, that was based on the story Pygmalion. While we all still watch it, it is obviously not a modern tale.


So when Julie over at FSB offered me a "beguiling retelling of the classic Pygmalion", I wasn't too sure if I wanted to read it, til I read the full synopsis!

Synopsis: Meet Lucy Ellis, a Manhattan transplant who dreams of making it as a fashion designer, but instead toils away on a Garment District assembly line. Road-blocked each time she tries to score a break, Lucy is beginning to think the unthinkable: maybe it's time to pack it in and move home to Minnesota. Then, during a torrential downpour, at her most bedraggled and disheartened, Lucy meets Wyatt Hayes IV.

Wyatt -- man-about-town and bored Ph.D. anthropologist -- has just been publicly dissed by New York's reigning socialite, Cornelia Rockman, whom he'd been dating. He boasts to his best friend Trip that he can transform any woman -- even a trailer-born nobody like Lucy -- into this year's "It" girl. "Give me a few months," he tells Trip, "and I could turn her into a social luminary. She'll make the rest of the pack look like dim little tea lights." If Wyatt can fool the East Coast aristocracy into thinking Lucy's the real deal, he can reveal the farce behind Cornelia's social superiority complex . . . and score a career-boosting book deal.

Headstrong Lucy challenges her teacher at every turn, but armed with a made-up pedigree and a wardrobe costlier than most studio apartments, she's soon navigating a world in which the most photographed socialite takes all. Can Lucy survive in a wilderness where no girl wears the same gown twice, the Astors are considered Johnny-come-latelies, and weddings are more lavish than the coronation of Louis XIV? Will she forge the connections needed to make a name for herself in fashion? And can she surmount the schemes and suspicions of her newfound rival, Cornelia?

Three months of rigorous prep and test runs culminate in Lucy's showdown at the Fashion Forum Gala, where she and Wyatt confront the ne plus ultra of society . . . and their unexpected feelings for each other. But the gaps between them -- as well as Wyatt's secret agenda -- may make this improbable couple an impossibility.

The Overnight Socialite most definitely puts a witty twenty-first-century spin on a timeless story of transformation and unlikely love. I found myself reading and imagining the movie- yes it has THAT much potential! I really really liked this story! This is one of those books you don't know you'll like, and you end up loving! Clark intros each chapter with a quote or sample invitation, that sets the tone/topic for the chapter. The quotes are interesting and shows the research Clark put into the book! This book would be perfect for a light spring or summer vacation read! So make sure you pick this one up!


Check the FSB website for some fun articles by Clark relating to the books topics as well, here and here


Clark Bridie Clark graduated from Harvard University, and has written for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, New York, and Quest. Her debut novel, Because She Can, was published in nineteen countries. She lives in New York City.
For more information, view Bridie Clark's Web site.





Disclosure: This book was sent to me by FSB Publishing for review purposes, free of charge. I was not told how to review it however, and no other compensation was given.