Inventing the It Girl

How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood

By: Hilary A. Hallett

Narrated by: Pamela Almand

Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The modern romance novel is elevated to a subject of serious study in this addictive biography of pioneering celebrity author Elinor Glyn.

Unlike typical romances, which end with wedding bells, Elinor Glyn’s story really began after her marriage up the social ladder and into the English gentry class in 1892. Born in the Channel Islands, Elinor Sutherland, like most Victorian women, aspired only to a good match. But when her husband, Clayton Glyn, gambled their fortune away, she turned to her pen and boldly challenged the era’s sexually straightjacketed literary code with her notorious succes de scandale, Three Weeks. An intensely erotic tale about an unhappily married woman’s sexual education of her young lover, the novel got Glyn banished from high society but went on to sell millions, revealing a deep yearning for a fuller account of sexual passion than permitted by the British aristocracy or the Anglo-American literary establishment.

In elegant prose, Hilary A. Hallett traces Glyn’s meteoric rise from a depressed society darling to a world-renowned celebrity author who consorted with world leaders from St. Petersburg to Cairo to New York. After reporting from the trenches during World War I, the author was lured by American movie producers from Paris to Los Angeles for her remarkable third act. Weaving together years of deep archival research, Hallett movingly conveys how Glyn, more than any other individual during the Roaring Twenties, crafted early Hollywood’s glamorous romantic aesthetic. She taught the screen’s greatest leading men to make love in ways that set audiences aflame, and coined the term “It Girl,” which turned actress Clara Bow into the symbol of the first sexual revolution.

With Inventing the It Girl, Hallett has done nothing less than elevate the origins of the modern romance genre to a subject of serious study. In doing so, she has also reclaimed the enormous influence of one of Anglo-America’s most significant cultural tastemakers while revealing Glyn’s life to have been as sensational as any of the characters she created on the page or screen. The result is a groundbreaking portrait of a courageous icon of independence who encouraged future generations to chase their desires wherever they might lead.

©2022 Hilary A. Hallett (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Deeper into the business dealings than expected

I felt that the overall story, though interesting, bogged down with the details of wheeling and dealing through the beginnings of the Hollywood movie moguls and even Nell’s family in-fighting. The “It girl” creation and myth was almost overlooked and sort of tacked into the last chapter of the book. Quite a major character, Nell really doesn’t quite come off as powerful and skillful as she actually was, especially given the later prejudice against female control of production and directing.

Absolutely Captivating

Hilary Hallett has written an amazing account of an amazing life, spinning the true events of Elinor Glyn’s life into a completely entertaining and informative biography that you cannot put down. Every era of Elinor’s life is brilliantly set within a fascinating understanding of its time in history and culture so that we can literally feel the strength of this woman as she tirelessly marched on, fueled by her immense passion and heart — a pioneer of love and romance.