A walk through New York in 5 novels

New York, New York, the big apple, the city that never sleeps, the city where any dream can come true...

The vibrant life, succulent history, and photogenic avenues of this great city have always served as inspiration for poets and writers who, in its streets and its people, have found the perfect ingredients to make their books authentic best-sellers that, like the city itself, never go out of fashion and invite readers to return and read again.

"The Beautiful and Damned" (Beautiful and Damned), first published in 1922, is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. The author explores and portrays the society of cafes and large, luxurious New York mansions as well as the American elite during the Jazz Age, both before and after the Great War, in the early 1920s.

The novel tells the story of a wealthy heir with an alcohol problem and a tempestuous relationship with his wife, who engages in throwing long parties for the city's wealthiest people. The work is believed to be based on Fitzgerald's own relationship and marriage to his wife, fellow writer Zelda Fitzgerald, as well as his problems with alcohol. 
 

"By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept" is a novel by Canadian author Elizabeth Smart, published in 1945, in which she narrates in a beautiful and carefully crafted poetic prose style, the relationship between her and British poet George Baker. 

The novel bears the title of what may be one of the most beautiful railway stations in the world. Opened in 1913, Grand Central Station is a major commuter rail terminal located in Midtown Manhattan. With a total of 44 platforms, it is the largest train station on the planet through which a total of 750,000 people pass each day.

Who doesn't remember the unforgettable scene of Audrey Hepburn having breakfast at dawn in front of the sumptuous window of the Tiffany jewelry store on Fifth Avenue? The film, released in 1961, is a version of the novel "Breakfast at Tiffany's", written by Truman Capote, published in 1958. The work takes place between autumn 1943 and autumn 1944, narrating the relationship between the protagonist, Holly Golightly, and an aspiring writer. Both are tenants of a building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. 

This New York neighborhood is bounded by 96th Street, the East River, 59th Street to the south, Central Park, and Fifth Avenue. Once known as the Silk Stocking District, it has long been one of New York City's most affluent neighborhoods. Strolling down Fifth Avenue is an experience in itself, admiring the storefronts of some of the world's most exclusive and luxurious brands.

"The Hours" is a novel written by Michael Cunningham in 1998, which won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film of the same name starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore. The play chronicles a single day in three different years and eras in the lives of three women: writer Virginia Woolf in 1923 England, housewife Laura Brown in Los Angeles in 1949, and publisher Clarissa Vaughan in New York in the late 20th century.

In New York, we can follow Clarissa's footsteps along Manhattan's Hudson Street and through the Meatpacking District, a popular shopping area and, today, one of the trendiest neighborhoods west of the city, which includes the Whitney Museum of American Art, high-fashion boutiques, and part of the High Line, an elevated park built on former railroad tracks. The cobblestone streets are lined with restaurants and trendy eateries that occupy the vast spaces where the meatpacking industry once thrived and now give the neighborhood its name.
 

If there is a writer who has made New York the muse of most of his works, it is Paul Auster. Author of the famous "New York Trilogy", "The Brooklyn Follies", and "Sunset Park", published in 2010. In this last work, Auster pays tribute to Sunset Park, a New York park in Brooklyn, located on top of a hill, which offers fantastic views of the city. There, it's worth strolling among the mausoleums and century-old trees of the Green-Wood Pastoral Cemetery. Across the bay is Industry City, a warehouse complex that is home to artists and businesses in the creative sector and attracts locals for its gastronomy and vibrant bohemian atmosphere, its art, and its music events.