What a delightful read! My favorite thing to do this past week was wake up, make my cup of tea, and sit and read this while listening to the birds outside. The perfect beginning to summer days. It's hard to pinpoint what makes this book so good--it's really just the sweet, simple, humorous and touching reminiscences of one small-town Iowa college girl's summer with her best friend in NYC when they become the first female pages at Tiffany's in the final summer of World War II. Yet, as we all know More...

I really thought this was a delightful and charming book! It's the true-story of two girls from Iowa, best-friends Marjorie and Marty, who take a summer to find jobs in New York. It's mid 1940's (already a plus for me as it's one of my favorite eras for stories) and the war is coming to a close, so in addition to the story itself being simply lovely, there's a fair amount of historical information as well. Marjorie and Marty are loveable characters and it's easy to see why the make such great fr More...

Do you remember the best summer of your life?

And so begins this memoir that spans one summer in a girl's life. I didn't think much about the question when I started reading, but soon as I was done, I spent some time wondering which summer I would write about. At 26, there are only that many summers for me to remember, of which, of course, I barely remember the first... 10? The jury is still out on this.

Summer at Tiffany is the story of Marjorie Jacobson and her best friend Martha Garrett (Marty) More...

Such a delightful tale of two girls' adventures in New York! The 1940's setting was nice, and I enjoyed the many references to fashion and music. So neat that it is a true story as well! Great fun!

Sweet memoir that reminded me of my New York grandma. Absolutely loved the chapter about Jones Beach! Makes you happy to be a girl and also inspires you to go live life and write home about it.

From My Blog...[return][return][return]If one is looking for an absolutely delightful and engaging novel, Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart is an excellent choice. Marjorie Hart writes a beautiful, heart-warming and witty memoir that will take the reader back in time to 1945 Manhattan and the unforgettable summer experienced by two college students working their dream job at Tiffany's for the summer. Hart's novel is beautifully written, richly vivid in imagery, vibrant characters and the lure o More...

This book caught my eye because Tiffany always makes me remember Breakfast at Tiffany and subsequently Audrey Hepburn, as it would remind any Hepburn fan. This book though, is a different story, it is a memoir that takes place in 1945 during the summer ww2 ended. Luckily the story has little to do with war, it just sets the background. Two small town sorority girls from Iowa decide to spend a summer in the city, thinking about how things were back then, it seems like a very liberal thing to do. More...

This book was given to me awhile ago and it's been sitting on my shelf for almost a year. SHAMEFUL. It's a memoir written by Marjorie Hart, who at the time she wrote this, was in her 80's. It was given to me by a senior editor who wanted me to know that you seriously don't need to be of a certain age to write your first book.

Essentially, the book is about Marjorie and her friend Marty, who were students at the University of Iowa in 1945. That summer, they set out on an adventure and lived out wh More...

My church book club chose this as one of our summer books-- good selection! I really enjoyed this eyewitness account of the summer of '45 in New York; I don't think I've really read anything with a point of view quite like this before. Marjorie and Marty were certainly there for an eventful summer. Of course, I wondered which characters were composites or had names changed, but it was so interesting to get some insight into what it was like. At times, the girls almost reminded me of Lucy and Eth More...

A charming memoir looking back on a spontaneous and fortuitous adventure of two Iowa sorority girls in 1945.

Marjorie and Marty, two college friends, decide to follow some friends to New York City for a summer job. Their sorority sisters assure them that jobs in the nicer department stores are plentiful and fun, but by the time Marjorie and Marty make it to NYC, all of the shopgirl positions are snapped up.

Naively, the pair stop in to Tiffany, and using a trumped-up recommendation letter from a f More...

This book was magical. Tiffany is magical, so how could it not be. I was absolutely immediately enamored by this story. The book is a memoir written by 80 year old Marjorie Hart about the summer of 1945 when she her girlfriend, Marty, get jobs as pages at Tiffany in NYC. I am obsessed with Tiffany, and in all the times I've stepped through those doors in the city, something inside me changes, like I just walked into diamond Disneyland. The behind the scenes stories about famous people who visite More...

This is a memoir about the best summer of the author's life (1945) when she worked at Tiffany in New York City. She and her friend, Marty, journeyed from Iowa to NYC together to spend a fabulous summer there.

I read a review for this by Jennifer at Justice Jennifer Reads and decided I needed to read this too. What could be more fun than to revel in the shared love for the best city ever? Then when I was browsing the local bookstore one night I was trying to remember the name of the author; I rand More...

A fun and enjoyable little book. In "Summer at Tiffany" by Marjorie Hart, the author recalls her memories of the summer of 1945 - the year she along with her freind and fellow Iowan, Marty Garrett, travelled to New York City to spend the summer in Manhattan. With a lucky connection and some persaverance in the face of slight adversity, the girls soon found themselves working as the first female employees on the sales floor at the world famous Tiffany and Co. on East 57th Street.

This is the tale More...

It would be just plain mean-spirited to say anything really negative about this charming memoir (although I was just a teeny bit tempted to do just that).

Marjorie Hart wrote the book in her early 80's, I believe, and it helped me to think of it as a series of naive, youthful experiences recalled and shared with a favorite grand-daughter (although there is no indication it was written in that spirit).
. . . There was not a snarky word written about her friends, even when they were taking advanta More...

I think I'm ready to pack my bag and spend a summer in New York City like the author of this book. Museums, dining, clubs, the beach, shopping... there must be no better way to see New York than to live it for a summer with a friend. It sounds like they had a great time and got to peek into the lives of the rich and glamorous by working at Tiffany's. I love the era, as well. While the 1940's would have been rough with the war, it seems like a more simple era where people didn't need so much to b More...

If you’ve ever wanted a short escape into the innocence and charm of bygone years, this is your book. In 1945, college student Marjorie and her friend have the amazing luck of spending the summer not in dullsville Story City, Iowa, but in the Big Apple! Their miniature apartment is a dream, seeing all the famous stores on Fifth Avenue is a dream, but the biggest dream of all is landing a job at Tiffany & Co! Can you imagine?!

They spend the summer working, window shopping, entertaining visit More...

Marjorie Hart's Summer at Tiffany is rated G. Golly gee. Gee whiz. Pretty tame stuff compared to the likes of other memoirists like Rick Bragg, Jeannette Walls, Augusten Burroughs or David Sedaris. Hart's tale takes place during the summer of 1945 when she and a sorority sister from Iowa land jobs as pages at the iconic New York jeweler--jobs usually reserved for men. Highlights include getting caught in the rain without umbrellas, watching slack-jawed as celebs like Judy Garland came into the s More...

This is a sweet book. More essay like than an actual novel, which is fine. The writing isn't the best; it's not bad but it's not amazing either.

But I can overlook that to read about the first female runners to work at Tiffany. One of my dreams is to visit the real Tiffany in New York and be able to purchase something there. It sounds silly, I don't care. So this story grabbed my eye and I delved right into it. I liked the sweetness of the story - Marjorie - being the more innocent and less stree More...

I just finished reading "Summer at Tiffany" for an on-line book club.
I enjoyed the book very much, and it was a quick read.

For me, the book had three appealing qualities: it was a memoir, it was a period in history that I love, and the setting was a place I love. It was a delight to read.

Hart wrote about the summer of 1945, when she and her best friend Marty shared an apartment and independence in Manhattan. Between their Jr and Sr years in college, they boarded the train with almost no money in More...

I don't know about you - but when I think memoir I think of some of the more depressing stories I've read; stories of abuse and abandonment. I don't know when Memoir became synonymous with those subjects in my head but thank goodness Marjorie Hart was there this week to show me how different memoirs can be.

This book was one of the most pleasant, most nostalgic memoirs I've read. It almost felt like fiction in spots so fantastic were the names and the places being seen.

Tiffany has always been a m More...

Who can resist a memoir that comes wrapped up with a darling bow and the traditional blue of Tiffany's? What Marjorie Hart has written is a delightful as receiving that traditional blue bag and box from Tiffany's.

It is the summer of 1945, towards the end of World War 2, when Marjorie and her sorority sister Marty arrive in New York City, full of enthusiasm and optimism. In their search for a summer job, they land positions as the the first women to ever work the floors of Tiffany's. For two girl More...

I would describe this one as an airport book, light, sweet, easily digestible, and you can lose it in the cab and not feel sad.

Marjorie Hart was 19 when she and her friend Marty decided to spend a summer in NYC working at a "glamorous store" like Saks Fifth Avenue. It was 1945 and they each had about $30 - plenty of money, right? Saks and Bonwit Teller rejected them, but Tiffany's offered to employ them as pages at near-starvation wages. They knew they would be on the Wheaties and celery diet, More...

In this sweet memoir, Marjorie Hart remembers the "best summer" of her life. It is 1945, and Marjorie and a sorority sister have left behind their midwest university to look for glamorous jobs in New York City. They end up as lowly pages- but at Tiffany.
The girls live in a tiny apartment their friends visit each weekend, make do with a shoestring budget, crave a fancier lifestyle, date midshipmen.
The book is such a different perspective on 1945 America. Marjorie knows real loss in the war, but More...

This book was a jewel (pun intended!) - I really loved it! It is a memoir, so it is a true story, so no need to fuss about how the story goes and whether or not you like the plot choices - it's a true story, so it is what it is! The author writes about the summer of 1945 when she was in college and went with a girlfriend to NYC to get a job and have some fun and adventure. The parts about being the first women to work on the sales floor of Tiffany's are so interesting, but equally interesting we More...

Some books just appeal to you so much that you cannot resist. This is one of those books. This books combines all the things I happen to love, into one lovely, Tiffany blue binding; Tiffany, the 40's and New York. The minute I saw Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart, I knew that I had to read it.

In 1945 Marjorie Hart, a student at the University of Iowa, travels to New York with her friend "Marty" in search of summer jobs. After a disappointing "sure thing" falls through at "Lord and Taylor", the More...

Aptly titled, Marjorie Hart’s Summer at Tiffany is her charming memoir of a summer spent as a ground-breaking female page in the boutique of a girl’s dreams. I was inspired by this wide-eyed Midwestern college girl’s adventures in 1940’s New York City, living vicariously through her refreshingly innocent youth as she handled priceless jewelry, happily earned meager wages while sharing a dingy apartment with two buddies, and sampled New York City’s glamorous nightlife with midshipmen home from wa More...

Summer at Tiffany is a memoir about a young Iowa woman in the 1940's who, during her college years, spends a summer living in New York city and working at Tiffany. It is a very easy read. So easy, in fact, that I read it in one day despite having a very hectic schedule and two young boys. I enjoyed the book, but I was really torn on how to rate it. It is really a very simple story, and it would make a great vacation read, etc. My issue, I think, is with how this book is being marketed. It is mar More...

A delightful story following two young girls living in New York City and working at Tiffany's during a 1940's summer. The word choice in this book made me think so much of my mom and grandmother who have taught me so many of the words that Ms. Hart uses in her memoir that were once common terminology but now seem to be dying words... such as the words used to describe certain types of fabrics or fashion styles. This memoir also made me regret not taking the time to hear more of my grandmother's More...

“‘The True measure of a person’s success is to be a person of value.’ I knew people of value, people who kept their promises, people who were kind, people who were loyal.”


Summer at Tiffany's is a memoir, and non-fiction books are not typically on my reading list. This book is hard to put down. Even a contemporary reader can relate to Ms. Hart on a number of levels. Themes presented in this book include small town girl hits the big city, women in the workplace, and a young woman's first job. Thr More...

Sweet simple story that I picked up because it seemed like a light read for summer, and who wouldn't like summer at Tiffany! There really isn't a set story structure, and some loose ends, but it's a memoir. I love the idea of adventure, seems ironically easier to be free and enjoy new territory back then. The enthusiasm and excitement bundled up in this little memoir is added with incredibly visual details, making me desire to have been part of it. A little history lesson too, in such a non-clas More...