On Tuesday October 4th, Audrey Gruss hosted a cocktail party at 21 Club to celebrate the publication of Jay McInerney’s most recent book, ‘Bright, Precious Days’ attended by some of New York’s leading lights and society figures.
Bright, Precious Days is a sexy, vibrant, cross-generational New York story – a literary and commercial triumph of the highest order that received a rave review from the New York Times. Even decades after their arrival, Corrine and Russell Calloway still feel as if they’re living the dream that drew them to New York City in the first place: book parties or art openings one night and high-society events the next; jobs they care about (and in fact love); twin children whose birth was truly miraculous; a loft in TriBeCa and summers in the Hamptons. But all of this comes at a fiendish cost. Russell, an independent publisher, has superb cultural credentials yet minimal cash flow; as he navigates a business that requires, beyond astute literary judgment, constant financial improvisation, he encounters an audacious, potentially game-changing—or ruinous—opportunity. Meanwhile, instead of chasing personal gain in this incredibly wealthy city, Corrine devotes herself to helping feed its hungry poor, and she and her husband soon discover they’re being priced out of the newly fashionable neighborhood they’ve called home for most of their adult lives, with their son and daughter caught in the balance. Then Corrine’s world is turned upside down when the man with whom she’d had an ill-fated affair in the wake of 9/11 suddenly reappears. As the novel unfolds across a period of stupendous change—including Obama’s historic election and the global economic collapse he inherited—the Calloways will find themselves and their marriage tested more severely than they ever could have imagined.
Anne Hearst McInerney attended with her sister Patricia Hearst Shaw, and Jim Belushi, Bill Brattonand Rikki Klieman, Nicole Miller, Chuck Scarborough, Alina Cho, all showed their support.
Alex Papachristidis, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Somers and Jonathan Farkas, Countess Luann de Lesseps and Thomas D’Agostino Jr., Dennis Basso Hunt Slonim, Janna Bullock, and R. Couri Hay, were also in attendance to show their appreciation to both Jay and Audrey.
Additional guests included: Ken Auletta, Ann Barish, Harry Benson, Bill Boggs, Tony Cianci, Bettina Cohn, Will Cotton, Laura Durning, Jill Dergan, George Farias, Richard and Chele Farley, Joanna Goldenstein, Susan Gutfreund, Dana Hammond-Stubgen, Mac Hanger, Richard Howorth, Mary Karr, Chip Kidd, Patricia Kluge, Kristen and Charles Krusen, Debbie Loeffler, Christopher Mason, Grace and Chris Meigher, Bill Moses, Katharina Otto-Bernstein, Hilary and Wilbur Ross, Anna Rothschild, Jane Rothschild, Martine Schaefer, Kim Taipale, Felicia Taylor, Christophe von Hohenberg, Dirk Wittenborn, Lucas Wittmann, Alexandra Wolfe, Victoria Wyman and Bettina Zilkha.
Bright, Precious Days is a sexy, vibrant, cross-generational New York story – a literary and commercial triumph of the highest order that received a rave review from the New York Times. Even decades after their arrival, Corrine and Russell Calloway still feel as if they’re living the dream that drew them to New York City in the first place: book parties or art openings one night and high-society events the next; jobs they care about (and in fact love); twin children whose birth was truly miraculous; a loft in TriBeCa and summers in the Hamptons. But all of this comes at a fiendish cost. Russell, an independent publisher, has superb cultural credentials yet minimal cash flow; as he navigates a business that requires, beyond astute literary judgment, constant financial improvisation, he encounters an audacious, potentially game-changing—or ruinous—opportunity. Meanwhile, instead of chasing personal gain in this incredibly wealthy city, Corrine devotes herself to helping feed its hungry poor, and she and her husband soon discover they’re being priced out of the newly fashionable neighborhood they’ve called home for most of their adult lives, with their son and daughter caught in the balance. Then Corrine’s world is turned upside down when the man with whom she’d had an ill-fated affair in the wake of 9/11 suddenly reappears. As the novel unfolds across a period of stupendous change—including Obama’s historic election and the global economic collapse he inherited—the Calloways will find themselves and their marriage tested more severely than they ever could have imagined.
