154115 Table for Two Paperback by Amor Towles

The New York stories, most of which take place around the year 2000, consider the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise that operate at the heart of modern marriages. In the novella, ‘Eve in Hollywood’, Towles returns to one of the characters at the heart of his debut novel Rules of Civility: the indomitable Evelyn Ross, who leaves New York City in September 1938 with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from multiple points of view, ‘Eve in Hollywood’ describes how Towles’ heroine crafts a new future for herself and others in a noirish tale that takes us through the movie sets, bungalows and dive bars of Los Angeles.