Rules of Civility

by Amor Towles

Hell Hath No Fury

My novels are like my children—which is to say, I love them equally. But in each book, I do have a favorite chapter or two… In the case of RULES OF CIVILITY, my favorite has always been Chapter Twenty. In the first half of RULES, Katey maintains something of a cool distance, watching and analyzing people and events with a sharp if somewhat passive intelligence. In Chapter Nineteen, however, when Katey discovers Tinker’s duplicity, she breaks out of her passivity, entering Chapter Twenty like a tiger escaped from its cage. In quick succession, she has three encounters in which she is a determined actor. First, she bests Anne Grandyn in her suite at the Plaza; then she puts Tinker in his place in a diner; and finally, she seduces Dicky Vanderwhile in his own bathtub. It is in this chapter, I think, where we get our first real glimpse of how formidable Katey will be in the years to come. The title of the chapter, of course, comes from the old maxim: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.