If I could give it two and a half stars I think I would. This book is not so much about the Barbizon, but uses the Barbizon as a MacGuffin to talk mostly about Mademoiselle magazine in the 1950s. Told as if it were narrated by a large cast of characters, consisting of women who were basically glorified interns at Madamoiselle in the 1950s, the book struggles to find a workable voice and structure.

The subject seems to be how the single sex hotel was a safe space for young women to explore the idea of careers outside of marriage and children. If the book were more successful in fleshing out this theme, I would have been more satisfied. As it turns out, there is a lot of minute detail about individual women and their experiences at the hotel. In particular, the author is very interested in celebrities like Sylvia Plath, Ali, McGraw, and Grace Kelly.

And for those of you who know me as a nitpicker, you will not be disappointed that I was very irritated by a number of weird grammatical choices, and anachronisms. Phrases like “the zeitgeist of the time“ and “Abels proscribed to the rule… “ drove me nuts, as you might expect. This does not seem to be a problem of copy editing so much as the author herself not being much of a writer with a commitment to language and craft.

The final chapter somewhat redeems the book. It sums up the place of a hotel like the Barbizon in 20th century women’s history, and the ebb and flow of societal progress for women. This part of the book is what I would’ve expected from a history professor. I wish this voice had been more present throughout the book.