In 1965, Helen Gurley Brown takes the helm as editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, forever changing the face of women's magazines. "Her girls" don't want to read about cleaning products; they want to read about beauty, sex, relationships, and their own bodies.

This fictional look at her first year as editor places Alice Weiss as Gurley Brown's assistance. While most of us are poised to think of New York magazine editors in the vein of frosty, difficult Anna Wintour (or her fictional alter-ego, Miranda Priestly), Gurley Brown was a different personality. Driven, determined, but also fragile and sentimental, she was a complicated figure who had a vision, and she fought hard for it.

Alice's story, alongside Gurley Brown's, is just as juicy and entertaining as the real-life drama. Park Avenue Summer was light and fun, with touches of feminist discussion without getting too heavy-handed (Gurley Brown is sometimes pitted against Betty Friedan and other feminist women of the era, but she sees herself as offering women her own brand of liberation.). This would be a fantastic summer beach read.