Careers for Women, Joanna Scott
Careers for Women, Joanna Scott
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

Careers for Women
A Novel

Author: Joanna Scott

Narrator: Carolyn Cook

Unabridged: 8 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/25/2017


Synopsis

New York in the late 1950s. A city, and a world, on the cusp of change . . .

Maggie Gleason is looking toward the future. Part of a midcentury wave of young women seeking new lives in New York City, Maggie works for legendary Port Authority public relations maven Lee K. Jaffe -- affectionately known to her loyal staff as Mrs. J. Having left Cleveland, Maggie has come to believe that she can write any story for herself that she imagines.

Pauline Moreau is running from the past -- and a shameful secret. She arrives in the city on the brink of despair, saddled with a young daughter who needs more love, attention, and resources than Pauline can ever hope to provide. Seeing that Pauline needs a helping hand, Mrs. J tasks Maggie with befriending, and looking after, Pauline.

As the old New York gives way to the new, and Mrs. J's dream of the world's largest skyscraper begins to rise from the streets of lower Manhattan, Pauline -- with the aid of Maggie and Mrs. J -- also remakes herself. But when she reignites the scandal that drove her to New York, none of their lives will ever be the same. Maggie must question everything she thought she knew about love, work, ambition, and family to discover the truth about the enigmatic, strong woman she thought she had rescued.

Careers for Women is a masterful novel about the difficulties of building a career, a dream, or a life -- and about the powerful small mercies of friendship and compassion.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Margot on September 07, 2017

3.5 stars. I was initially drawn to this book by the gushing blurb from Kate Atkinson on the cover. I love Atkinson and figured I would love anything she loves. As a writer who experiments with the novel's structure, I expect Atkinson was drawn to this book's unconventional plotting. This book is no......more

Goodreads review by Robert on September 07, 2017

It’s fortunate that I had already read Joanna Scott, or I would have been completely put off by the title and flap copy of her new novel, sure this was not a novel for me. Scott is such a master that she has it both ways in this novel: playful and serious, sentimental and satirical, and critical of b......more

Goodreads review by Julie on August 08, 2017

This is a very odd little book. Is it about Pauline? Perfidy (a new vocabulary word for me)? Corporate pollution? The Twin Towers? A jumble of topics, lightly stirred.......more

Goodreads review by Katie on November 29, 2017

Summary: Great writing and characterizations made the slower-paced mystery a pleasure to read. In 1950's New York, Maggie Gleason is enjoying the empowerment of having a career at the Port Authority. She stands in awe of her boss, the impressive Mrs. Jeffe, who is driving the creation of the world's......more