I am mad at Tatiana Boncompagni
why you ask? Because she kept me up on the long flight to London! It was my first real vacation with the entire
family in years and I was excited to board British Airways to relax in their
new and much hyped pod/cubicles.
After settling in and allowing the flight attendant to make my bed (twin cot
sized) with a down comforter, feather pillows, and Frette sheets; I curled up
with a glass of bubbly and a copy of “Gilding Lily“. My plan
was to read a chapter or two and then get some much needed shut eye but from
the very first page, I was drawn into Lily’s world and could not extract myself
away from it. 7 hours later, I reluctantly put the book down after reading the
very last page. By then, we were almost in London and our flight attendants had
started dismantling beds so passengers could have breakfast. How
could we be landing in 45 minutes??? I still needed to sleep! I also had to hop
on a connecting flight to Paris upon landing not to mention I could hear my
three year old wailing for me at the top of his lungs from the cabin behind us
as he woke up. Seriously, don’t you agree that is a valid reason to be mad at
Tatiana?
But she is a dear sweet friend so I forgave her and agreed
to host her book launch parties in Los Angeles and Dallas. I mean it’s
not her fault she writes like a modern day Edith Wharton and has an endearing
self-deprecating sense of humor…. or is it? All kidding aside,
Tatiana is truly one of the most thoughtful writers of our time.
Throughout the book I kept thinking how easy “Gilding Lily” was to
read but also how well it was written (not the norm for this genre of
books!). Instead of being a socialite pretending to be a writer, Tatiana
is a writer who stumbled upon socialite life when she married her gorgeous husband, Maximillian Hoover.
“Gilding Lily“, Tatiana’s first novel, is an expertly spun tale of life in New York high
society from the viewpoint of an outsider. Like her heroine, Lily
Bartholomew, the Georgetown graduate has written for Wall Street Journal,
Vogue, and is currently a contributor to the New York Times Sunday Style
section. Among other things, Lily also shared Tatiana’s self doubts after
giving birth and both fell into the trappings of fame and glory of being
the “it” girl, if only for a moment. But that’s where the
similarities end. I gleefully devoured each word of this book
and of course played the guessing game to figure out what high profile
socialite inspired each character. You will have to read this deliciously
fun novel to figure it out yourself. Grab a copy quickly; I know you
won’t be able to put it down. Just make sure you have at least seven
hours to spare. Buy Gilding Lily here at Amazon.com.
Gilding Lily‘s New York launch party was sponsored by Vogue at the Tahari boutique in SoHo- and hosted by Emmy Rossum, Tinsley Mortimer, and Christian Leone. I was in attendance at the fully packed venue and was not surprised to see the number of A-listers who clamored in line for Tatiana to sign their books. 
From Left: Amanda Ross, Emmy Rossum, Tinsley Mortimer, Hollywould, and Tina Craig
The following morning, Tatiana and I jetted to LA where I hosted her book signing party at DVF boutique on Melrose. Once again, fashionistas flocked to meet Tatiana– Darren Star even made an appearance! Check out photos from the DVF party in LA at Patrick McMullen.com
