John Searles's frothy, fizzy fifth novel, Single Girls, charts the unlikely success story of self-professed "mouseburger" Helen Gurley Brown and the crackerjack team of female writers and editors she assembled to transform Cosmopolitan magazine in the mid-1960s. Searles (himself a former Cosmopolitan editor) dives into Helen's personal life, her complicated relationship with her mother and sister, and the inner lives of the half-dozen women who took a chance on Cosmopolitan--and on Helen.
Searles (Her Last Affair) begins with the 1932 elevator accident that killed Helen's father, Ira. As with much of the book, the incident is true and the details around it are imagined. Searles returns repeatedly to that pivotal moment in Helen's childhood as he explores Helen's fraught bond with her sister, Mary Eloine (who eventually contracted polio), and their difficult mother, Cleo. After Ira's death, Cleo and Mary Eloine are focused on gaining stability and security, while Helen wants more from life. Searles takes readers through Helen's early years working as a secretary and copywriter in Los Angeles, her marriage to film producer David Brown, and their move to Manhattan in the wake of her smash hit book Sex and the Single Girl. When Helen gets the chance to turn around Cosmo's fortunes, she recruits a half-dozen writers and editors, some of them unlikely: a department-store window dresser, a bartender with a secret, a typist besotted with a married man. Together, the women fill the pages of the magazine with sharp, well-written, slightly edgy stories aimed at single female readers, trying to keep the (male) higher-ups happy while pushing the envelope.
Searles gives readers a glimpse into each woman's story, exploring the writers' balancing acts as they build careers, support themselves financially, and (in some cases) try to find love. Meanwhile, each woman receives at least one magazine assignment that stretches her skills and confidence. Relationships editor Myrna takes a trip to test out the world's first champagne-glass-shaped hot tub, with surprising results, while entertainment editor Liz Smith interviews a Park Avenue call girl and makes some discoveries of her own. As Helen guides (and sometimes pushes) her team of women toward making their magazine the hottest item on newsstands, she continues to wrestle with complex feelings about her father's death.
Witty, buzzy, and full of magazine-worthy descriptions of midcentury fashion, Single Girls offers an entertaining look into the world of publishing and a tribute to the unassuming editor who revolutionized women's magazines. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: John Searles's frothy, fizzy novel traces Helen Gurley Brown's transformation of Cosmopolitan magazine, gathering an all-female team to write smart, edgy stories that made single women feel seen.