Book Review: ‘Single Girls: A Novel’ By John Searles

by | Jun 27, 2026 | Books | 0 comments


The book is in stores on Tuesday, July 7th. Click on the link to buy a copy. https://amzn.to/3QsM1WV

Author John Searles worked for Cosmo: he was hired by Helen Gurley Brown and now has written one of the best books of the summer. It’s a fictionalized account of how Helen rose to fame and took over the struggling Cosmopolitan magazine, and made it into one of the top magazines of its time. Helen wrote a book, Sex and the Single Girl, which was a hit; she was married to a top Hollywood producer, and her next step was to run a magazine for women. She convinced a top executive at Hearst to give her a chance. She has three magazines to prove herself, and did it with just one. She hired a top group of women to help her make her dream come true. The novel follows Helen from her early life, and the heartbreaking loss of her father, to taking over the magazine, and we meet the women who helped her do it, including Liz Smith, who went on to her own fame in life. This book is not to be missed!