'Poignant and intriguing' ( The New Republic ), The Barbizon weaves together a tale that has, until now, never been told. No place had existed like it before or has since. It gave women a chance to remake themselves however they pleased it was the hotel that set them free. Not everyone who passed through the Barbizon's doors was destined for success-for some, it was a story of dashed hopes-but until 1981, when men were finally let in, the Barbizon offered its residents a room of their own and a life without family obligations. Before the hotel's residents were household names, they were young women arriving at the Barbizon with a suitcase and a dream.

Mademoiselle magazine boarded its summer interns there, as did Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School its students and the Ford Modeling Agency its young models. Sylvia Plath fictionalized her time there in The Bell Jar, and, over the years, it's almost 700 tiny rooms with matching floral curtains and bedspreads housed, among many others, Titanic survivor Molly Brown actresses Grace Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Ali MacGraw, Jaclyn Smith and writers Joan Didion, Gael Greene, Diane Johnson, Meg Wolitzer. Over time, it became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. Built in 1927, at the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Barbizon Hotel was designed as a luxurious safe haven for the 'Modern Woman' hoping for a career in the arts. They wanted what men already had-exclusive residential hotels with maid service, workout rooms, and private dining. But they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses. Liberated from home and hearth by World War I, politically enfranchised and ready to work, women arrived to take their place in the dazzling new skyscrapers of Manhattan. Welcome to New York's legendary hotel for women.

From award-winning author Paulina Bren comes the 'captivating portrait' ( The Wall Street Journal ) of New York's most famous residential hotel-The Barbizon-and the remarkable women who lived there.

The barbizon hotel book