Bergdorf Blondes
First edition cover, Miramax Books
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| Author | Plum Sykes |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | chick lit |
| Publisher | Hyperion |
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Publication date
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2004 |
| Followed by | The Debutante Divorcée |
Bergdorf Blondes is the 2004 chick lit début novel of Plum Sykes, an English-born fashion writer and New York “it girl”. The book was released in hardcover on April 7, 2004 by Miramax Books (USA) and Viking Press (UK) and a paperback edition was released the following year by Penguin. The book's title refers to rumors that one of the characters routinely gets her hair dyed a certain shade of blonde at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury goods department store in Midtown Manhattan.
The book follows an unnamed young socialite living in New York as she interacts with her best friend Julie and tries to find a successful romantic relationship. Initially she believes that she's found "The One" in the photographer Zack and the two become engaged, after which point Zack becomes emotionally abusive and unresponsive. Despite her best attempts to salvage the relationship, the protagonist is dumped by Zack. Not only does this harm her social standing, but the protagonist is psychologically devastated by the end of the relationship and becomes anorexic as a result. Things are not made much better by her mother's insistence that she return home to England (her family emigrated there during the narrator's childhood) and strike up a relationship with a local Earl that they haven't seen since a disastrous business transaction with her father years ago.
The protagonist goes through several terrible relationships with married men (she was told that they were single or separated) and finds herself drawn to and irritated by the filmmaker Charlie, who has started dating her friend Julie. The two eventually end up running into each other at a hotel one night after the protagonist's apartment is robbed. Despite some friction between the two, the protagonist finds that she genuinely likes Charlie, who tells her that he's broken up with Julie. The two end up having sex, something that weighs upon the protagonist's conscience since she has a rule against sleeping with a friend's ex-boyfriend. The following day Julie ends up finding out about the sexual encounter after questioning the protagonist about the night's events, upon which point she reveals that she and Charlie never broke up and tells the protagonist that she never wants to see her again. Since the friendship is gone, the protagonist decides to see Charlie again that night, as he had invited her to return for dinner. However the protagonist finds that Charlie has left, giving her the impression that he was just using her like the other men she has dated.
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