Book Rec of the Day 2/9/2007

MEMOIRS

Glamor and tragedy are played out against glittering backdrops of aristocratic Europe and tony New York City in Gray’s memoir of her parents. Gray’s Russian mother and French-Jewish stepfather fled France for New York after World War II and took the town by storm: She became a fashionable hat maker for Saks; he became a publishing luminary at Condé Nast. Francine, bookish and shy, watched as they were swept up in a swirl of high society. Thank heavens she took notes! Them makes for heady, engrossing reading.

THEM, by Francine du Plessix Gray (The Penguin Press, 2005)