Shelf help: Glamorous summer reads

What is a summer read if not a simmering piece of escapism that offers a glimpse into the glamorous lives of others – fictional or otherwise? Transport yourself to gilded ballrooms, manicured gardens and dining tables surrounded by the who’s who of high society with our edit of the most glamorous summer reads, from classic 20th-century novels to satisfyingly scandalous memoirs.

Set against the glamorous backdrop of the 1920s French Riviera, Fitzgerald’s fourth and final novel tells the tale of a wealthy American expat couple, Dick and Nicole Diver, who regularly entertain high society at their villa. When the young film star Rosemary Hoyt enters their circle, dark secrets emerge and the Divers’ marriage starts to fracture. The book’s emotionally complex characters and vivid prose will stay with you long after you’ve put it down.

“There are certain women,” Truman Capote wrote, “who, though perhaps not born rich, are born to be rich.” These were his “swans”, a group of beautiful and distinguished high-society women whose racy lives he attempted to thinly fictionalise in what was expected to be his masterpiece but resulted in his downfall. In Capote’s Women, Laurence Leamer tells the true story of the original literary scandal, weaving together a complex web of friendships and betrayals.

What David Niven makes clear in his 1971 memoir, The Moon’s a Balloon, is that, even from an early age, he knew how to live. The debonair Brit was an actor, a soldier, writer and wit who worked hard, partied harder and charmed the pants off everyone he met (literally, in some cases). From being expelled from school to shoulder-rubbing with the likes of Laurence Olivier and Lauren Bacall, this bawdy, anecdote-packed memoir has all the traces of a life well lived.

Godson of J.P. Morgan, friend of Ernest Hemingway and founder of the Black Sun Press, which published writers such as James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence, Harry Crosby was a key member of the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris. A wealthy sybarite, he lived a life of scandal and extravagance, indulging in drugs, drink and extra-marital affairs until 1929, when he shot his married mistress and then himself in an apparent joint suicide. Geoffrey Wolff’s biography Black Sun offers arresting insight into Crosby’s thrilling and tragic existence.

Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer-winning novel is a masterly portrait of New York society in the Gilded Age, the sumptuous yet stifling period in which Wharton herself grew up. Its protagonist is Newland Archer, an eligible bachelor of the establishment who must decide between duty and desire when his plan to marry the beautiful yet conventional May Welland is derailed by the arrival of May’s free-thinking and scandalously separated cousin.

Actor Frank Langella’s no-holds-barred account of his myriad encounters with some of the 20th century’s biggest stars is – like its subjects – completely tantalising. He pulls no punches, labelling Richard Burton “a crashing bore” and recounting “racy phone conversations” with Bette Davis, “rife with foreplay”. It is at once wickedly funny and heartfelt.

Tina Brown’s account of her eight years as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair is a riotous romp through the high-octane media world of 1980s New York. From interactions with Boris Johnson (“an epic shit”) and Donald Trump (“there’s something authentic about his bullshit”) to securing that cover of a naked and pregnant Demi Moore, Brown’s diaries offer an insider’s view into a rarefied world, as well as a masterclass in magazine editing.

This feature was taken from our Summer 2024 issue. Read more about it here.

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