Where All Good Flappers Go: Essential Stories of the Jazz Age

by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Contributor), Zelda Fitzgerald (Contributor), Anita Loos (Contributor)

"I believe in the flapper as an artist in her particular field, the art of being – being young, being lovely." -- Zelda Fitzgerald

A sparkling new collection of "flapper fiction": stories featuring the iconic women who defined the Jazz Age

Edited and introduced by David M. Earle

Vivacious, charming, irreverent, the flapper is a girl who knows how to have a roaring good time.

In this collection of short stories, she’s a partygoer, a socialite, a student, a shopgirl, and an acrobat. She bobs her hair, shortens her skirt, searches for a husband and scandalises her mother. She’s a glittering object of delight, and a woman embracing a newfound independence.

Bringing together stories from widely adored writers and newly discovered gems, principally sourced from the magazines of the period, this collection is a celebration of the outrageous charm of an iconic figure of the Jazz Age.

This fabulous collection

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 11, 2023

About the author

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.

Reviews

[Mary-Lisa Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happily stepped through time with this one!

Fantastic read for lovers of the Jazz Age! I particularly enjoyed "The Clever Little Fool" by Dana Ames, and "Not The Marrying Kind," by Dawn Powell- although they were all strong writers.

There is so much barely contained energy in this compilation that as a reader, it is greatly appreciated. My imagination was engaged. Highly entertaining!!

Great addition to your reading collection. (Can't beat those vintage writers!)

This is an advanced reader copy and all opinions are my own.

Anticipated release date: July 11, 2023.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She's not the sort of girl men marry."

This is an entertaining anthology of US flapper fiction, many of the stories coming from the popular contemporary magazines of the 1920s and 1930s. A few pieces will be familiar (F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair', and a newspaper piece from Zelda) but mostly this introduces rare stories from male and female authors that tackle the issue of gender and modernism.

There's some slippage here between flappers and showgirls, but the range is good in terms of tone and attitude. This is also an inclusive collection with stories from Zora Neale Hurston and other Black writers associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

Oddly, it's the 'big' names who have written some of the less memorable stories: Dorothy Parker, Anita Loos are rather over-shadowed by less recognised authors, but that's one of the delights of this collection.

Showcasing women casting off the constraints of modesty, domesticity and chastity, while still struggling with how to finance a life-style and find emotional fulfilment, this is a window into the 'jazz age' but still speaks pertinently to us today.

Thanks to Pushkin Press for an ARC via Edelweiss

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of short stories from the 1920s showcasing the changing social roles of women, marriage, work, and sex. I’d previously read Bernice Bobs her Hair by F.Scott Fitzgerald but the rest were all new to me. It’s an interesting mix of styles but nothing really stood out for me.

[Pooja Peravali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The flapper girl is an icon of the Roaring Twenties, appearing in plenty of novels and films of the era. In this anthology, Pushkin Press brings together some contemporary short stories about the flapper which were published in magazines and papers of the time that celebrated these young women as a mirror of the times.

I haven't read much literature from the 1920s beyond the obligatory The Great Gatsby, but I've always found it intriguing how quickly social mores seemed to swing round during this time, and it was exciting to see how flappers were seen at the time. The editor made a point of pulling stories from both Black and white authors, as well stories both highbrow and low, giving us a nice cross-section of flapper literature to sample.

Of this collection, I'd only read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" before. It still remains among the standouts for me, but I also really enjoyed "Common Meter" by Rudolph Fisher (about a jazz band competition between rival conductors), "Night Club" by Katharine Brush (about a restroom attendant at a fashionable club), and "Monkey Junk" by Zora Neale Hurston (a hilarious tale of divorce in the style of the Bible).  

I did find, interestingly, that some of the duller inclusions came from the pens of authors I'd heard of before, like Anita Loos and Dorothy Parker, and wondered if their short stories were included more for the name recognition (they were after all leading American writers during this period - but in other forms of writing!) than for the merits of the actual stories.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Eric Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a wonderful book. No, really. I was a bit concerned as I don’t always enjoy anthologies, and the only author names I recognised were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzerald, and Dorothy Parker. But that was enough to awaken my interest. But in reading these lovely, funny, human stories about a time when relations between the sexes was undergoing a bit of turmoil and change, I grew to know and really love the stories of authors like Viña Delmar, Dawn Powell and Katharine Brush. And no, I never heard of them either. And what a fantastic cover! Highly recommended.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never considered myself to be a fan of Jazz Age fiction – but, to be fair, I’ve read very little of it, other than a few F. Scott Fitzgerald novels. When I saw that Pushkin Press had put together this collection of Jazz Age short stories, I thought it would be a good opportunity to branch out and try some new authors from that era.

This edition begins with an introduction discussing the changes following WWI that led to the birth of the ‘flapper’ as women pursued social and sexual equality, then a short 1925 essay by Zelda Fitzgerald, What Became of the Flappers?. In this essay, Fitzgerald attempts to give her own definition of what a flapper is, before revealing what she believes will happen to them in the end:

The best flapper is reticent emotionally and courageous morally. You always know what she thinks, but she does all her feeling alone. These are two characteristics which will bring social intercourse to a more charming and sophisticated level. I believe in the flapper as an artist in her particular field, the art of being — being young, being lovely, being an object.

The essay is followed by twelve short stories, most of which were originally published in various periodicals between 1920 and 1932. Apart from F. Scott Fitzgerald, all of the other authors were new to me; I had at least heard of a few of them, such as Zora Neale Hurston, Anita Loos and Dorothy Parker, but was unfamiliar with the rest. The Fitzgerald story is Bernice Bobs Her Hair, which stands out as one of the best in the book, but I expect a lot of people will have read that one so I’m going to focus on some of the less well known stories instead.

My favourite story is probably Night Club by Katharine Brush, which describes a typical night at a New York club through the eyes of Mrs Brady, who works there as a maid. Mrs Brady’s job involves looking after a dressing room, where young women come to reapply their makeup throughout the evening, therefore she gets to hear a lot of scandalous gossip involving affairs and proposals. In the world of the flapper, however, these dramas have become so commonplace that they pale in comparison to the ‘real life’ stories in Mrs Brady’s magazine!

Another I particularly enjoyed is Dawn Powell’s Not the Marrying Kind, about Aileen, who is not the kind of girl men want to marry – unlike Joan who has always known she will marry and has a ‘hope chest’ of linen ready and waiting for her special day. Then there’s Gertrude Schalk’s The Chicago Kid, in which a chorus girl at the Yellow Parrot cabaret elopes with a millionaire, which inspires Flora, a black girl from Chicago to set out to do the same. I liked the twist at the end of this one!

Despite all dealing with the common theme of the flapper lifestyle, the stories in this collection are quite diverse and include contributions by male authors and black authors, so we see things from a range of different perspectives. Rudolph Fisher’s Common Meter describes a battle-of-the-bands contest between two jazz band leaders trying to win the affections of a beautiful woman, while Viña Delmar’s Thou Shalt Not Killjoy is written in the style of a Biblical parody. I can’t claim to have enjoyed all of the stories – Dorothy Parker’s The Mantle of Whistler, a story written mostly in dialogue as a satire on the flirtatious language used by the flappers, was particularly disappointing, considering she is one of the more famous authors in the collection.

Stories by Dana Ames, John Watts and Guy Gilpatric make up the rest of the book and although, as I’ve said, I found this collection a real mixed bag, it’s always good to try something different and it was an entertaining read overall.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting glimpse into the USA’s jazz age. Some of the stories were very good, others a little bland.

[Ostap Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

None of the 13 short stories which originally appeared in magazines in the 1920’s and early 30’s is “elevated literature,” but I enjoyed them very much, and really appreciated the effort from Pushkin Press to collect work from the likes of Zelda Fitzgerald and her husband F. Scott, Dorothy Parker, Vina Delmar, Zora Neale Hurston, and Anita Loos. Taken together they really capture the spirit of an age, when flappers defied the older generation and moved the needle of progress forward for women, on top of having fun.

As the introduction explains it, “unlike the suffragettes before them, flappers were more interested in social and sexual equality than political.” I also love how the introduction explains how a movement “reductively identified with the white middle class drew inspiration from the jazz culture and perceived joyousness of African American society,” and how the collection reflects this, including several black authors whose only outlet for their work was in newspapers.

My favorite stories:
- The Clever Little Fool, by Dana Ames, from Snappy Stories, 6/15/26
- Bernice Bobs Her Hair, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, from Saturday Evening Post, 5/1/20
- Common Meter, by Rudoph Fisher, from Pittsburgh Courier, 2/8/30
- Night Club, by Katharine Brush, from Harper’s Magazine, 9/27. Brush would later write the novel that was made into the pre-Code classic Red-Headed Woman (1931)
- Not the Marrying Kind, by Dawn Powell, from Snapper Stories, 3/27
- Thou Shalt Not Killjoy, by Vina Delmar, from Snappy Stories, 12/20/23, my favorite of all, which quotes from a spicy fictional magazine, Hot Tamale, and satirizes conservative censors. Delmar was the author of Bad Girl (1928) and later the screenwriter for The Awful Truth (1937), which earned her an Oscar nomination.
- Monkey Junk, by Zora Neale Hurston, from Pittsburgh Courier, 3/5/27
- Why Girls Go South, by Anita Loos, from Harper’s Bazaar, 1/26, which was simply brilliant, and featured shifting attitudes towards over generations and an openly lesbian character.

Overall, great stuff, with no duds. Lots of slang and fun dialogue from the era, and wonderful to get this little window into the past.

Just a couple of quotes:
On aging, from Bernice Bobs Her Hair:
“People over forty can seldom be permanently convinced of anything. At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look, at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.”

On a gold-digger, from The Chicago Kid: A Story of Cabaret Life:
“His hand was sliding the little strap down over the golden brown shoulder… Flora endured it, holding her breath, closing her eyes. A bit worse than she expected, but then… you can’t have everything. You can’t expect a perfect lover and a millionaire daddy to be rolled up in the same package. “You beautiful thing…” he was whispering huskily. He pressed closer, his hands almost burning her with their heat. His hands…hard not to shudder when they passed so intimately over her scantily clad body. But remember the millions…”

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, claiming to be the first compilation of short pieces devoted to the flapper, has a solid mix of expected names and others that have not stood the test of time so well. The first fiction here is looking at someone who hates the idea of the latter – she has found a white hair on her head, shock horror, and has decided she needs to find a man to make an honest woman of her, what with her being nineteen and close to gathering shelf-dust. Oh how the flapper lifestyle is so passe, now she needs home-comforts and a family to call her own instead. And how very much more than passe is her current boyfriend…

Next, Fitzgerald – whose Zelda had given us four pages of, well, something – has a girl deemed just not good enough for the set by the cousin ostensibly putting her up for the month. Both these fictions have started at the golf club serenade, which could not be further from the testosterone-pit of a jazz club in Harlem Rudolph Fisher takes us to next. Female desires – of the "must bag me a millionaire" kind – are looked at next, rather more flippantly. Next, people not being an Airedale is the concern of a short, and principally annoying, look at the chatting-up of the time, from Dorothy Parker.

After that a woman receives a whole gossip magazine's amount of scandal in one evening's shift in the dressing room of a posh club, where make-up is refreshed, outfits mended and judged, and scissors go walk-about; a club dancer is adamant the next time one of her troupe leaves it is her – with millionaire in tow; the one woman who refuses to be a gadabout still proves impossible to marry; a chap caught writing too many cheques out for his pretty gets a Biblically-styled comeuppance; and so on. Best is when the hot young floozie affianced to the worst kind of cretinous reforming chap, old before his time, tests him on his knowledge of what he dislikes so. Worst of the second half seems to be a most ill-fitting piece of a girl wanting out, but in the most extreme kind of way. It's readable, as pretty much all here, but just seems a bit too out-there, and not really, well, flappy.

The whole proves to be rare stuff, for those interested in this kind of thing, and actually pretty reasonable reads for those just here for curiosity, on the off-chance. The biographies seemed pretty curt afterwards – one at least through necessity – and we might have had them chronologically, perhaps, but this is not designed to give us a dreary commentary on the flapper phenomenon, rather engage with it in fun ways. And certainly I'd expect little from a modern piece looking back down the decades to those times a century ago, meaning getting it from the horse's mouth so to speak is clearly the way to go. This was fun.

[Alex Sarll]

A collection of stories about the young women who so scandalised polite society back in the good twenties, ranging from the familiar, through work I didn't know by names I do, into pieces from long-gone publications like Snappy Stories which have been excavated in much the same spirit as the British Library unearths old crime and ghost obscurities. Except, of course, that here the drama comes from hemlines raised rather than bodies dropped - mostly. Bernice Bobs Her Hair is unquestionably the most famous inclusion, to the extent that it could perhaps have been omitted, but it remains classic Fitzgerald, and in terms of big names Scott is joined by Zelda, Zora Neale Hurston, Anita Loos and Dorothy Parker - though Parker's contribution, a savage satire on inane conversation among the supposedly smart set, is far easier to admire abstractly than enjoy. But I was pleasantly surprised at how well contributors of whom I'd never heard held their own in this company. Katharine Brush, for instance, whose kaleidoscopic Night Club opens with a checkroom girl who had "slender hips upon which, in moments of leisure, she wore her hands, like buckles of ivory loosely attached." Nor is that the only story which, while firmly aimed at mainstream markets, is happy to get meta, a magazine story about magazine stories; Vina Delmar's Thou Shalt Not Killjoy is even more thoroughly self-aware, and none the worse for it. About the worst I could say of anything here is that one or two stretch the theme; Rudolph Fisher (also a pioneering radiologist!) supplies Common Meter, a tale of duelling Harlem bandleaders, which fits the anthology's subtitle much better than its title and showed theme - as a story of the Jazz Age it's grand, but its most prominent female character is still firmly in a supporting role, albeit more spirited than she initially seems. And in general, that was what I took away from this; I kept expecting that, if not the stories by remembered authors, then surely the lost and local ones might lapse into finger-wagging defences of conventional morality, ditch fun for fustiness in the final pages. Not so; Prohibition is treated as a joke throughout, and over and over men have the sense to go with the fun girl who drinks and smokes over the modest one who's been planning for marriage since childhood (who, after all, isn't much fussed as to the specific man), or the outrageous flapper reforms the reformer, rather than vice versa. And quite right too.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Laianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting collection of Jazz Age short stories featuring flappers, quippy 1920s slang, magazines, nightclubs, and men of ill repute. Every story has something to love; I only wish there were more!

My favorites, in no particular order:

“The Clever Little Fool” by Dana Ames (1926) - Margie is a quintessential young flapper who spirals into an existential crisis when she gets her first gray hair. The twist ending is brilliant and sets the scene for every story to follow.

“Common Meter” by Rudolph Fisher (1930) - It’s Fess Baxter’s Firemen versus Bus Williams’s Blue Devils in a Harlem nightclub’s battle of the bands, where the prize is the beautiful hostess, Ms. Jean Ambrose. The quick-witted slang is delightful to follow, and the description of the music makes you feel like you’re really there.

“Something for Nothing” by John V. Watts (1925)- You are the judgmental accountant of Madame Berthe’s dress shop, side-eyeing the naive new “girl from Georgia” who came to New York with the sole purpose of marrying a millionaire. Will she achieve her goal? And how!

“Nightclub” by Katherine Brush (1927) - A peek behind the curtain of a women’s nightclub dressing room on a Saturday night, through the eyes of the long-suffering maid. If you’ve been to a women’s nightclub restroom 100 years later in the 2020s, not much has changed!

“Thou Shalt Not Killjoy” by Viña Delmar (1923) - Hallington C. Bond, the “grimmest, busiest reforming killjoy of the town,” disapproves of practically everything - except his longtime love, the wise-cracking red-haired Teddy Tremont, who gets him started on the pulpy erotica of Hot Tamale magazine. Possibly my favorite short story of the collection, and laugh-out-loud funny.

“Why Girls Go South” by Anita Loos (1926) - Judy Revell, New York debutante of the “finest old Dutch stock,” shows up one morning with a $2,000 check from a strange man and declares her intentions to go to Florida to cash in on her “100% S.A.” (sex appeal) to her horrified mother, absentminded father, and rollicking spinster aunt, Mary. If this isn’t a movie, it should be.

[Eavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

This is a small collection of stories taken from an array of "Jazz Age" periodicals, focusing on the sensational experiences of young flapper women.

More than anything, the collection shines a light on the gender politics of the period. Knowing that many of these stories were written for young women to identify with, it's fascinating to read the character's display of confident sexual agency in a period decades before the modern women's movement would crop up. There's an undeniable tension between sexual and economic freedom being dependent on a woman's "value" on display in these stories—her looks, her youth, her vivacity—and it'd be almost tragic if it weren't played for laughs. The editor has also made a point of including black writers of the period, and it's intriguing to see that layer of race relatively unmentioned in the name of escapist literature.

Two stories in particular,"Bernice Bobs her Hair" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Night Club" by Katherine Brush are standouts, and even though it's been days since I finished them I just can't get them out of my mind. Beyond those two rich additions, Dawn Powell's "Not the Marrying Kind" and Viña Delmar's "Thou Shalt Not Killjoy" were like eating candied fruit. So fun!

As a party girl myself (don't tell!) I identified with many of the stories in one way or another. Even if you don't stay out way too late with random men as I do, this collection is worth picking up.

Thanks to Pushkin Press through NetGalley for the ARC :)

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would not have picked up this collection of short stories if it wasn't firstly exquisitely presented (absolutely judging a book by its cover) and secondly if it didn't bring to mind a short story my sister told me I absolutely must read, as she was reading another beautifully presented new edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories and turned around to me and said, you must read this one when I finish pointing to a story called "Bernice bobs her hair". Said story was indeed included in this collection. To cut a long story short and the theme of flappers being very much on my mind, and bobs, and young women being independent, rebellious and fun, and wishing to escape both my age and my dullish routine, I did a most unconventional thing and picked up this book at full price based on those two earlier considerations. And for 80% of the content, I was very glad I did. Short stories about the new phenomenon of flappers, written at the time (1920s), dealing with unconventional women breaking the mould, varying in quality (hence the 80%) but a great sensory and mental distraction overall. I wanted to go back and mark my favourites but I did not have a pencil on me at time and I loath to mark a beautiful book with pen, but I will return with some of the titles that stood out. Just like Forest Gump's box of chocolates, you don't know until you've tried them all. A strong frivolous read. A strong 3.75 stars.

[Lori Sinsel Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone who is a fan of the 1920s & the Jazz Age! This collection of short stories, written by some of the era's most iconic figures bring the glamour and glitz of the Jazz age to energetic, fascinating life!!
I can not pick a favorite story, they all come to life with their own individual styles, showcasing a bygone time when women were finally coming into their own, gaining a place in the world outside of the household. Rebellious, irreverent, and not to be denied the 1920s flappers were breaking all the rules and busting through the boundaries that had been in place for centuries, setting the stage for the freedoms and lifestyles we as women today so much take for granted.
I always enjoy anything written in or about this exciting era! I love the flappers, the dresses and the attitudes of this time, I should have been there!! 5 stars for this collection and anyone that loves the era as I do make sure you don't miss this one, it is well worth the reading!! I was transported into the era, at the speakeasy, drinking gin!! Oh, be still my heart!!
Thank you to Pushkin Press and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

[Lori Sinsel Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone who is a fan of the 1920s & the Jazz Age! This collection of short stories, written by some of the era's most iconic figures bring the glamour and glitz of the Jazz age to energetic, fascinating life!!
I can not pick a favorite story, they all come to life with their own individual styles, showcasing a bygone time when women were finally coming into their own, gaining a place in the world outside of the household. Rebellious, irreverent, and not to be denied the 1920s flappers were breaking all the rules and busting through the boundaries that had been in place for centuries, setting the stage for the freedoms and lifestyles we as women today so much take for granted.
I always enjoy anything written in or about this exciting era! I love the flappers, the dresses and the attitudes of this time, I should have been there!! 5 stars for this collection and anyone that loves the era as I do make sure you don't miss this one, it is well worth the reading!! I was transported into the era, at the speakeasy, drinking gin!! Oh, be still my heart!!
Thank you to Pushkin Press and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to first thank NetGalley and Pushkin Collection for providing the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I greatly appreciate it.

Given the nature of my scholarly work, any literature pertaining to the Roaring Twenties is a great interest of mine. "Where All Good Flappers Go" certainly did not disappoint. While some of the stories were too short to make sense of its meaning, the majority were entertaining and absorbing. My most favorite from the collection were “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Night Club” by Katherine Brush, “The Chicago Kid” by Gertrude Schalk, “Thou Shalt Not Killjoy” by Viña Delmar, and “Monkey Junk” by Zora Neale Hurston. All in all, this is a very recommendable book, and worth a read.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine collection that offers the reader a cheerful insight into "flapper fiction". The blurbs highlight contributions from the usual gang - the Fitzgeralds, Dorothy Parker, Anita Loos, and so on, but the majority of the tales are from magazines, like "Snappy Stories", from the period. F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice..." story is deservedly well known from various anthologies, and the "name" bits are fair enough, but the real treat is the wide range of snappy stories that do a much better job of capturing the feel of what entertained flappers and flapper-wannabees. This work was widely popular for a reason, and it's fun to have this handy selection.

[Scott Satterwhite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of (mostly) less seen stories from the 1920, written by or about flappers. A number of writers that I hadn't heard of before. I'd imagine most readers of this book would've read the Fitzgeralds, and maybe some of the heavy hitters (Dorothy Parker and Zora Neale Hurston), but the lesser read works are worth the time.

The book has a nice feel to it, too. Smaller than usual, somewhere between trade paper and mass market.

Nice book. The bees knees, as they said.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just a lot of fun - loads of energy and a really fascinating look at the time. Found a few authors I’d like to read more from too!

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
This was just a lot of fun - loads of energy and a really fascinating look at the time. Found a few authors I’d like to read more from too!

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

[Michaela Kraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slightly eerie to read about the dreams and struggles of young women exactly 100 years after these stories’ publication. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. We are still fighting the exact same fight, gaining a step and losing a mile, all while trying to enjoy ourselves along the way.

[Demi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half the stories were nothing-burgers. I enjoyed ‘Bernice bobs her hair’, ‘not the marrying kind’, ‘monkey junk’ and ‘night club’.

I felt like these stories best represented the 1920s. It was also nice to have some diversity and focus on black people, not just white people.

[Joe Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the ride through the “Jazz Age” in these stories.

[Caelan♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE

[Roxy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Hard to get into

[Grace Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories ranging from ones that were funny and quite good to several that bored me. But wow! Zelda Fitzgerald. Her essay “What Became of the Flappers?” is completely wonderful.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful stories!

[Steven Haythorne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most anthologies there are some stories which are good, bad and indifferent. If nothing else this collection is an accurate barometer of 1920s social history.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adorable handful is packed with good literature. It's the kind of quality binding you are likely to pick up as a gift, or if you find it on a sale table (like I did) as a stocking stuffer. But honestly, you should keep it for yourself. If you are writing stories set in the roaring twenties, these give a wonderful overview of the interplay between generations, races, classes, even between men and women. But while you are learning, you'll be having a great time kicking up your heels.

Several stories are really sticking in my memory. I wanted to love Zelda's entry, but it was F Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bob's Her Hair" which was the most memorable for me, the story of two cousins, one who schools the other in the flapper's version of how to be cool. "Night Club" by Katherine Brush is a profile of an ordinary evening for the cloak room attendant of a hot NY Night Club. Its a beautifully-drawn view of her existance amid all the glitz. And my third fave (which is much narrower race) is the last story in this collection, by Anita Loos, "Why Girls Go South" which is a depiction of a family trying to change with the times.

The collection contains 13 stories, all of which are good, and at least six are superb. If you see it in your bookstore, take it home. I enjoyed the insight it gave me.