The book tells the story of Andy, a young woman fresh out of Brown, who becomes the junior assistant to Miranda Priestly who runs Runway magazine, the most important 'zine" in the fashion field. The author actually worked in the same capacity for Anna Wintour of Vogue. Andy becomes a slave to the whims and demands of her boss who, in the book, is presented as the primal scream of high couture. The book details Andy's loss of humanity as the months ensue and her eventual recovery as the year ends, tragedy overtakes, and her boyfriend puts his foot down. It's a novel for Christ-sakes but one that I have come to learn is close enough to the truth to titillate the interested and petrify the knowledgeable. Hence the double New York Times reviews and the spleen they express.
Here are some quotes from these reviews:
Kate Betts, former editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar wrote:
"It's hard to get past the onslaught of Page Six gossip and film-rights buzz that has preceded "The Devil Wears Prada," Lauren Weisberger's thinly veiled roman a clef about her thankless year sidetracked in the trenches of a fashion magazine. Start with a Mommy Dearest premise featuring our most famous fashion editor, add an irresistible title and throw in a six-figure movie deal - does it even matter what's actually on the page when everybody is reading between the lines?
As is customary in this increasingly popular brand of bite-the-boss fiction, the names (and hair color) have been changed to protect the guilty. Weisberger worked at Vogue - here called Runway - as an assistant to its pencil-thin brunet editor, Anna Wintour, here the blond Miranda Priestly. Conde Nast has been renamed Elias-Clark, but Oscar de la Renta and Tommy Hilfiger and most of the rest of the vast throng of designers, photographers, models and celebrities who adorn the fashion firmament are undisguised."
And Janet Maslin wrote:
"If Cinderella were alive today, she would not be waiting patiently for Prince Charming. She would be writing a tell-all book about her ugly stepsisters and wicked stepmother, taking care to position herself at the absolute center of their story. She would be dishing the dirt, wreaking vengeance and complaining all the way.
Cinderella may have been too nice for that, but Lauren Weisberger is not. Ms. Weisberger graduated from college and began per professional life in a low-level position at the Conde Nast publishing empire. Now she has written a novel, "The Devil Wears Prada," and can devote a second career to insisting it is not exactly, precisely, entirely one long swat at the editor of Vogue."
Only one question remains. Where can you find this tome? For sure it is in bookstores. Whether it is also in pharmacies by the sunglasses I don't know. But it should be. As a change of pace it is a fun time out.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
