Can you tell us why this topic was important for you to write about? (SB)īB: Thank you for taking the time to sit down and answer some questions for us! Your wonderful book The Barbizon has been popular with our readers since its release. The stories are captivating, and the scope of Bren's narrative will blow you away. Among the well-known residents were Titanic survivor Molly Brown, writers Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion, actresses Grace Kelly and Liza Minnelli, and so many others.

This incredibly well-researched history of a hotel and the fascinating inhabitants of its small rooms doubles as a story about how the roles of women have changed throughout the twentieth century…and how the Barbizon-built in 1927 as a safe haven for the 'modern woman' working in New York-was there to see it all. There are no spoilers ahead (since the events of The Barbizon all occurred in the past), but if you’d prefer to read the book first, you can pick up a copy of The Barbizon here. This week in the Bluestocking Salon, we interviewed author Paulina Bren on her research strategies, how to teach while writing, and her newest venture! It certainly checks a lot of boxes on the Bluestocking list: centering around creative, aspirational women (including a few of America’s most recognizable female authors), it’s historical, immersive, thrillingly inspirational, and endlessly compelling. The glamorous hotel became so acclaimed, it was even featured in films and novels.The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free has been a Bas Bleu bestseller since its release in 2021.

The Barbizon's aim was to attract ambitious middle- and upper-class women, preferably those interested in the arts and stardom. But the hotel featured a wealth of fancy extras, such as a swimming pool, library, solarium, lecture halls, squash and badminton courts, social activities and free afternoon tea. Its 700 rooms were tiny - think college dorms - with shared bathrooms and kitchens. Opened in Manhattan in 1927, the 23-story Barbizon Hotel for Women sat on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street, a stately structure built in the Romanesque, Gothic and Moorish styles.

The Barbizon was not the first women-only residential hotel in New York, but it was certainly the most famous, housing many actors, models and writers of the mid-20th century in the years before they made it big. Sylvia Plath threw her clothes off its roof on the last day of her magazine internship.

Grace Kelly, Joan Didion and Candice Bergen all called it home. Bettmann/MCNY/Gottscho-Schleisner/Getty Images/HowStuffWorks Poet Sylvia Plath was just one of the many famous women that stayed at the Barbizon in their early years.

The barbizon paulina bren