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A Time to Be Born

Published
Jun 1998
Main Genre
General Fiction General Fiction
Rating
Pages
344

About This Book

This scathing "comedy of manners" set in the 1940s "steers us through the lives of women who come to New York . . . for love, money, opportunity, and a good time" (New York Times).
 
At the center of this 1942 novel are a wealthy, self-involved newspaper publisher and his scheming, novelist wife, Amanda Keeler—who ensnares Ohioan Vicky Haven in her social and romantic manipulations.
 
Author Dawn Powell always denied Amanda Keeler was based upon the real-life Clare Boothe Luce until years later when she discovered a memo she'd written to herself in 1939 that said, "Why not do a novel on Clare Luce?" Which prompted Powell to write in her diary, "Who can I believe? Me or myself?"
 
Set against an atmospheric backdrop of New York City in the months just before America' s entry into World War II, A Time of Be Born is a scathing and hilarious study of cynical New Yorkers stalking each other for various selfish ends.

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Paperback

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Oct 1991 Steerforth Pr ISBN 1878274066
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Jun 1998 Steerforth ISBN 1883642418
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Mar 2005 Zoland Books ISBN 1581952104
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Feb 2024 Warbler Classics ISBN 1962572498
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Jun 2026 Steerforth Press ISBN 1805333267
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eBook

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Nov 2011 Steerforth Press ISBN 1581952473
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Nov 2011 Steerforth ISBN B005GFPROI
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Nov 2011 Warbler Classics ISBN 1962572501
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Jun 2026 Steerforth Press ISBN 1805333275
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