32—MARYLEBONE JOURNAL BY SASHA GARWOOD
CULTURE: BOOKS BOOK OF THE MONTH
The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe Penguin Books, £8.99
Like everyone else in the western hemisphere, regardless of gender, age, or (in my case) possession of a television, I am obsessed with Mad Men. (There’s nothing that expresses devotion to a series like watching entire seasons curled up uncomfortably in front of your housemate’s computer). Therefore when I say that Rona Jaffe’s scandalous 1958 account of single office girls in New York – a book that devotees may recall Don and Betty discussing in Season 1 – is almost as good as the series that prompted its reissue, you will I hope recognise what an accolade this is. And it’s only “almost” because you can’t see Jon Hamm’s eyebrows. Written with a subtle intelligence
Sexual harassment is a given, but nobody talks about sex, and a new generation of independent and educated girls have the opportunity to seek both professional success and personal happiness
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and perception that in no way mitigates its honesty, The Best of Everything offers both an absorbing narrative of human connections and a vivid evocation of a different world where sexual harassment is a given (and unmarried pregnancy a scandal) but nobody talks about sex, and a new generation of independent and educated girls have the opportunity to seek both professional success and personal happiness, and are determined to do so. The novel centres on four
women taken into the typing pool of Fabian Publications in January, 1952. Caroline Bender is a college graduate seeking to escape her fiance’s recent betrayal by burying herself in a fulfilling job, and soon begins to work her way up towards an editorship despite romantic complications. Gregg, later Caroline’s roommate, is an out-of- work actress embroiled in an affair
with a playwright, who escapes the office she hates after his intervention but finds herself increasingly unable to wrestle her demons. April is beautiful but naïve, new to the city, craving romance and marriage but disappointed and confused by her repeated attempts to find it. At 22 Barbara is already divorced with a beloved infant daughter. She lives with her mother and dreams of another relationship – but is stymied both by her life situation and her feelings for a married man. Despite its period setting, many
of the novel’s themes are timeless. What makes a lasting relationship? How can you tell when to trust? What is love anyway, and can one combine it with a family and a career? What about desire and its consequences, particularly in a culture where sexual transgression is policed much more strictly for women? Jaffe is unfailingly emotionally
articulate; able to differentiate and develop relationships and reactions with thoughtful precision. The Best of Everything is immediately, powerfully believable. Its everyday details – the cocktail bars, little suits, face powder and casual misogyny – simply add to its immersive quality, providing escapism as well as acuity. Despite the hypocritical culture
with which they struggle, the bonds that develop between the girls are affirmative and supportive, and their dedication to each other throughout the vagaries of love and betrayal is heartwarming. Whether read as period drama, incisive commentary or simply compulsively readable fiction, The Best of Everything does everything it says on the tin.
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