During the Roaring Twenties, liberated women flocked to New York City, with some finding their way to the Barbizon hotel. Its status as a haven for ambitious and artistic women only grew with the passing decades, and as Pauling Bren recounts in this history of the venue, it was the place that Sylvia Plath fictionalized in The Bell Jar, where Joan Didion got her first taste of Manhattan, Grace Kelly danced topless in the hallways, and Titanic survivor Molly Brown sang her last aria.

"An entertaining and enlightening account…. This appealing history gives the Barbizon its rightful turn in the spotlight."—Publishers Weekly