Book Review: Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart

We’ve all heard Audrey Hepburn murmur wistfully about Tiffany’s, “Nothing bad could ever happen to you there.” And we all believe her, of course, and we’ve all fallen under the magical spell of that fabled Fifth Avenue jewelry store. How could you not, especially since it and dear Audrey are so synonymous with each other?

The author’s first name notwithstanding — hard to resist anyone named Marjorie, natch — I didn’t want to like this book. Afraid that it would sully whatever it is that makes Tiffany so special, I avoided it. 

Until now. 

Read Summer at Tiffany. You must. 

Marjorie Hart, now in her mid-eighties, writes of her all-too-brief summer in 1945, when she and her friend Martha “Marty” Garrett became Tiffany’s first “lady” sales staff. Freshly sprung from University of Iowa, where they were eager sorority sisters at the Kappa house longing for a break from their rural existence, they somehow — through sheer luck and audacity — manage to land themselves two of the most coveted jobs in New York City. The next three months are a whirlwind of parties, dates with earnest-but-sexy midshipmen, encounters with the rich and shady, and family joys and tragedies. 

Ms. Hart writes beautifully. She reminds of what Somerset Maugham once said about how one doesn’t need a fat vocabulary in order to write well, only how to use the words one actually knows. She infuses her book with so much heart, capturing perfectly the exuberance of life as a young, adventurous woman discovering it for the first time. Despite the decades since the period in which the events in her story took place, everything reads so fresh, so pure, as if every moment unfolded just yesterday. 

What I loved most about this book is how deceptively light it is. One would think that, with a title like Summer at Tiffany, you’re entering a world much like that inhabited by the people who regularly shop the jewelry store: hushed, rarefied, sophisticated, glaaaaa-morous, dahling. You half-expect lots of long, languid descriptions of furs trailing across the marble floors, jewelry sparkling against smooth necks drenched in La Mer creams, glossy hair perfectly coiffed by a $500-cut stylists with one European name. 

And you do get fascinating glimpses at celebrities such as Judy Garland and Marlene Dietrich, both of whom visited the store during the author’s long shifts, but what struck me the most about Ms. Hart’s writing is just how deftly she moves from star-gazing to heart-thumping. I read with fascination her narration of how Ms. Dietrich charmed the staff with her kind and low-key demeanor, then wept with relief when Ms. Hart recalls the pandemonium and sorrow that followed the Victory over Japan celebrations at Times Square. She remembers with grace and sorrow the death of dear friends and family in bloody battles far removed from her comfortable life in Manhattan, and the extraordinary generosity and good humor of people left to man the home front. We may be going through a deadly, protracted war of our own now, but her recollections of the enormous self-sacrifice and unabashed patriotism that flourished in the 1940s leaves one breathless at just how much times — and people — have really changed. 

This is a book about Tiffany, but it’s also about a time of great courage and resilience, borne by both the people at home and the people tasked to defend them. Ms. Hart’s reminisces about that memorable summer leave me longing for a time when frugality wasn’t an inconvenience but a social value, and people took care in their dress and manners. I know all too well that someone like I — minority, working class, female — would not have fared well during that time period, when racial tensions ran deep and before the feminist movement unshackled women from repressive social mores and blatant discrimination. (At one point in the book, a wealthy customer — the kind for whom the term dowager was coined — remarks that higher education is wasted on women). However, I mourn the loss of social civility that accompanied the upheavals of the subsequent decades. Surely we can all be both free and kind to each other? 

If and until that time happens, though, read this book to get a glimpse of a different kind of life, a different kind of time that was unique to its period in history. Read about a delightful and brilliant young woman who found meaningful and joyous work in one of the most revered institutions in American society. It’s a quick, engrossing read, the perfect book for summer, about the best summer of one woman’s life. 

Visit Marjorie Hart’s MySpace page for more information about the author.