It Girl

Set against the glittering backdrop of turn-of-the-century New York City, the novel follows Evelyn Talbot, a fatherless girl from small-town Pennsylvania who rises to become America's most famous face, only to find herself trapped by the powerful men who claim to love her. Evelyn narrates her own story from beyond what the public believes is her death, opening with a July 1906 newspaper account of a sensational shooting aboard a Manhattan dinner cruise. The press blames Evelyn, calling her "The Girl Houdini," but she insists the published version is not the truth as she lived it.

Evelyn's story begins on Christmas Day 1897, her thirteenth birthday, in a dingy Pittsburgh boardinghouse where she collects rent from leering male tenants. Her father, Winn Talbot, a beloved small-town lawyer in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, died suddenly, leaving Evelyn, her younger brother Kit, and their mother destitute. That evening, Mamma drags the children to Stonehurst, the Thorne family mansion on Beechwood Boulevard, to beg for charity. Mrs. Thorne, the cold widow of a railroad tycoon, grudgingly hands over five dollars and lectures them about honest work. Humiliated, Mamma uses the money to relocate the family to Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia, Mamma pulls Evelyn from school and puts her to work at Wanamaker's department store. A sketch artist named Leah Dawson notices Evelyn's striking features and pays her to model. Under Leah's mentorship, Evelyn learns to "find her light," developing the expressiveness that will define her career. Leah's partner, Rachel, who dreams of moving to France, provides another warm presence. Leah begins selling Evelyn's images to newspapers, and the stained-glass artist Violet Oakley hires Evelyn to pose as an angel for Louis Comfort Tiffany's church windows. Encouraged by her mentors, Evelyn and Mamma enroll Kit in boarding school and move to New York, where Leah's letter of introduction secures Evelyn a commission with the renowned painter James Carroll Beckwith.

In Manhattan, Evelyn's fame accelerates. Beckwith hires her as his Aphrodite and persuades Mamma to allow a nude sitting, arguing it will establish Evelyn as a serious model. Fifteen-year-old Evelyn endures the session only by retreating into the blank mental state she cultivated during years of hardship. Her renown reaches new heights when the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson selects her as his iconic "Gibson Girl," creating the famous silhouette "Woman: The Eternal Question" for Collier's magazine. Gibson offers Evelyn a piece of advice: Learn to move like water, learn to swim, and she will survive.

Evelyn convinces Mamma to let her audition for a Broadway musical and wins a spot in the chorus of Fair Flora and Fauna, bonding with fellow performers, especially her closest friend, Penny May. Evelyn becomes the show's breakout star. Fellow performers Dinah and Dolly Goodhue arrange for Evelyn to meet their wealthy patron, Stanley Pierce. A celebrated architect in his forties, Pierce is known as "the Pharaoh of Fifth Avenue." He lavishes Evelyn with attention, then takes her to a bedroom containing a red velvet swing beneath a mirrored ceiling and pushes her on the swing in a scene he frames as innocent play. Pierce wins Mamma's trust by offering to pay for Kit's schooling, relocates the family to a lavish hotel penthouse, and positions himself as their generous "protector."

At Thanksgiving, Pierce arranges for Mamma to visit Kit, leaving sixteen-year-old Evelyn alone under his care. He takes her to his brownstone for a private dinner, plies her with champagne and chocolate, and brings her to the red bedroom. Evelyn becomes overwhelmingly drowsy and loses consciousness. She wakes the next morning naked and in pain beside the undressed Pierce. He tells her that what happened is natural between adults in love and warns her never to speak of it, framing the assault as a gift in return for his generosity. Evelyn forces herself back to work and conceals everything from Mamma.

Over the following year, Pierce frames their ongoing sexual relationship as romance while Evelyn's career soars. The relationship shatters when she discovers a leather book on his bedside table containing alphabetized lists of women's names organized by city, with her own name starred among dozens. Evelyn burns the book, and Pierce dismisses her fury as childishness. Heartbroken, she writes him a note saying she never wishes to see him again.

Pierce arranges for Evelyn to spend the summer at a rented castle in the Hudson River Valley, where she meets Arthur Darrow, a twenty-two-year-old cartoonist. Art sketches Evelyn with wings, saying he wants to give her "the gift of flight," and proposes in an orchard filled with fireflies. They flee to Manhattan, but Pierce and Mamma ambush them. Pierce buys Art off with money and a ticket to Europe. Crushed but refusing to return to Pierce, Evelyn throws herself into work, starring in The Tempest and Sweet Cherri Pie while maintaining a cold truce with Pierce, who continues funding her lifestyle.

A new admirer, Hal Thorne, the Pittsburgh steel and railroad heir, begins courting Evelyn. She learns he is a sworn enemy of Pierce and a supporter of the morality crusader Anthony Comstock. When Evelyn discovers Mamma sitting on Pierce's lap in their suite, she resolves to accept Hal's invitation to travel abroad. In 1904, Evelyn and Mamma sail for Europe as Hal's guests. In Paris, Mamma reveals she has been receiving money from Pierce and abruptly leaves. Feeling abandoned, Evelyn remains with Hal. In Orléans, France, at the home of Joan of Arc, she confesses the full truth of Pierce's assault. Hal vows to protect her, and Evelyn accepts his proposal. They marry hastily, with Hal insisting she wear black rather than white.

Back in Pittsburgh at Stonehurst, Evelyn discovers that her new life is another kind of prison. Hal's mother subjects her to nightly prayers that include Evelyn's name on a "list of sinners" and forbids novels, art, and any mention of the stage. Hal grows increasingly erratic, carrying a loaded revolver, using morphine, drinking heavily, and obsessively demanding that Evelyn recount Pierce's assault. His violence escalates to physical abuse. Evelyn's only solace is swimming laps in an indoor pool and walking her puppy, Miranda. Staring at a portrait of a Thorne ancestor who hanged herself in the very bathroom Evelyn uses, she feels the first stirrings of a plan to escape.

In July 1906, Evelyn persuades Hal to visit New York. Working secretly with Penny, she switches Hal's loaded revolver for a prop gun that fires blanks and stage blood, dumps the real weapon in Central Park, and arranges for Pierce to receive an anonymous invitation to the same dinner cruise. She also mails a letter to Comstock detailing Pierce's assault, knowing it will be published after her apparent death. Aboard the cruise, Evelyn takes the stage, calls Pierce beside her, and dances seductively for him, inflaming Hal's jealousy. Hal fires three shots meant for Pierce. Evelyn steps between them so the prop ammunition strikes her, creating the appearance of a fatal wound. She stumbles to the railing and throws herself overboard.

Evelyn swims through the dark harbor to where Penny waits in a rowboat. The two board a steamer to France under Penny's name, funded by money Evelyn secretly siphoned from Hal's accounts. Hal is imprisoned for murder, and Evelyn's letter sparks public outrage against both Pierce and Hal. Evelyn and Penny plan to settle in southern France with Leah and Rachel. Standing at the ship's railing as France comes into view, Evelyn savors the sunlight on her face and embraces the freedom she has finally claimed, declaring that she knows how to find her light.