Holiday House — Joan Sargent

Nan Darnley would never have got the job if Isobel Carrington hadn't been her mother's best friend. But when Isobel learned that had defer her senior year of college because of an eye infection, she signed Nan up as her assistant on the hostess staff of a new Royal Poinciana hotel in Miami Beach. The Poinciana was one of the chain of luxurious Gamble hotels, and if all went well, it would be "the Beach's glamour hotel of the year." Nan would find her duties, catering to the desires and whims of hundreds of wealthy holidaying guests, plus getting out the hotel's daily newssheet, fascinating and exciting. Nan would love it.

And Nan did.

Never had she realized any work could be so endlessly varied and challenging. The grand opening of the Poinciana was set for New Year's, but before that, at Thanksgiving, Max Gamble was throwing, for publicity purposes, a giant house party at the hotel. Hundreds of celebrities would be there, and it was the hostesses' responsibility to see that they were so lavishly entertained that they would enthusiastically spread the word that the Poinciana was the hotel in Florida.

And even after the hectic pace of Thanksgiving, the pre-opening season would be far from slow, for there would be paying guests, who would demand continual social activity. And then would come the grand opening itself. Through it all Nan would find herself breathlessly active, and constantly intrigued by the hustle and bustle about her. For she would learn, at a big hotel, everything happens.

And there was Rodney Kemp, whom Nan met her first day at the Poinciana. Rod was undeniably handsome and great fun to be with. But though Nan liked him, she found him exasperating