She was in town from her native Toronto for the U.S. Granados sat down with the day after she attended Balenciaga’s Met Gala after party, when she was still reeling from meeting Charli D’Amelio. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play Echoing the opening line of Pride and Prejudice, Isa fills her diary with witticisms about how a proper party girl should move though life, like a conspiratorial, charismatic new acquaintance whispering secrets at a party, beginning the novel with: “My mother always told me that to be a girl one must be especially clever.” Taking inspiration from pre-Code cinema-the era before the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code, which censored how sex and violence could be portrayed on screen-the novel is replete with one-liners and the screwball comedy energy of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which infidelity takes place off screen. But as Gala, the headstrong half of the duo, says, “I, for one, am trying to stay young for as long as possible.” There is no time for sadness when you’re bumping into flings and friends left, right, and center. The book might make you nostalgic for your early 20s, the author’s age when she wrote the novel. She extends grace and patience to her protagonists, never condescending to the confident young women looking for their next gig to pay this month’s rent. Granados writes about clothes and style the way that Nora Ephron writes about food. Happy Hour is confirmation that it’s possible to meet people and make connections with strangers in passing-if we’re bold enough to follow Isa’s lead. The 21-year-old protagonists, Isa and Gala, always seem to be whisked away to parties and art openings at a moment’s notice and sneaking in the back door of places where they wouldn’t otherwise be allowed. The debut novel by Marlowe Granados, written in diary form, takes place in one electric summer in New York, from late May to Labor Day. How do you make the most out of a summer in New York? Happy Hour is a charming ode to the young women traipsing around downtown who always have somewhere to be.

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