Friday, July 5, 2013

Book Review: Astor Place Vintage

Cover of Astor Place Vintage Paperback
Within a few pages of beginning to read the novel Astor Place Vintage, I was captivated and unable to tear myself away from the interwoven stories of Amanda and Olive. Written in alternating chapters, the book begins with 39-year old Amanda, a vintage clothing dealer who visits an elderly client and comes across Olive's journal in a trunk of clothing from the early 1900s. As Amanda's own life begins to unravel, she finds comfort within the pages of Olive's journal from 1907, especially since she, like Olive, wants to be independent and self-supporting. Although more than a century separates their lives, Olive and Amanda share a love of New York City and the backdrop of the city's history becomes another character in the story.