Beyond the Blonde

July 11, 2005
Readers hoping for more hauteur à la Bergdorf Blondes
can reach for this debut by a celebrity colorist at a Manhattan salon. Flynn-Hui's alter ego, sweet but street-smart Georgia, works miracles for a bevy of glamour girls at Jean-Luc, the "epicenter of beautification." Georgia's own humble roots are worlds away from those of her clients, whom she categorizes by neighborhood (there's the Greenwich, the Beverly Hills and the Short Hills—"the Greenwich with a serious inferiority complex"). Georgia's mother, Doreen, runs the classiest salon in their neck of New Hampshire, but struggles to stay afloat, which is why she prodded her daughter toward the big city, where Georgia worked her way up from sweeping Jean-Luc's floors to wowing his clients. But like the best dye jobs, the salon's artifice of amity conceals the darkness beneath. Ups and downs ensue—from workplace romance to blithe betrayal—all barely noticed by the coddled clientele. Knifed in the back, Georgia and her friends resolve to decamp for grittier downtown digs, hoping to take their clients with them—but Jean-Luc himself is a force to reckon with, and Georgia struggles with her own crisis of confidence. Snarky but not overly stinging, this read is as kicky and flirty as a head of highlights.

September 1, 2005
First-time novelist and celebrity colorist Flynn-Hui exposes the high-fashion, high-stakes world of New York City hair salons. Georgia Watkins, freshly graduated from the Wilfred Academy of Beauty in Weekeepeemie, NH, moves to Manhattan to become a colorist at a top salon, leaving her small-town life far behind her. She lands a job at Jean-Luc, the salon of the moment, first sweeping floors but quickly rising to the enviable position of highlighting that perfect mixture of blond into the hair of her rich and powerful clients. Not surprisingly, the drama of the novel revolves around a maniacal boss and a love interest. The boss is Jean-Luc himself, a diva who cares little for his staff and leads his successful salon making questionable business decisions; the love interest is stylist Massimo (whom Georgia initially thought was gay), and together the two must decide how to face the unpalatable side of the beauty industry. This debut is comparable to Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus's "The Nanny Diaries" and Lauren Weisberger's "The Devil Wears Prada", but with more hair. Luckily, Georgia is a likable character and the story moves quickly along with a satisfying, if predictable, conclusion. Recommended for all public libraries. -Andrea Y. Griffith, Loma Linda Univ. Libs., CA

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