Hutchinson has acquired a non-fiction title which describes how a young New Yorker "learnt the art of being a woman".

Senior editor Sarah Norman bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Arabella Stein at Abner Stein, on behalf of Gloria Loomis at Watkins/Loomis, in The Art of Being a Woman by Patricia Volk. It will be published in hardback, full of photographs and illustrations, simultaneously with Knopf in the US in April 2013.

Volk's mother was an upper-middle class New Yorker, who believed in doing things the polished and proper way. However Volk came across the autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli, the Italian fashion designer, at a young age and was influenced by her embodiment of the "daring".

According to the publisher, Volk's memoir "weaves Audrey's notions of traditional female domesticity with Schiap's groundbreaking creative vision to create a witty, wise and utterly delightful portrait of how a young girl learnt the art of being a woman".

Norman said it is "wonderfully nostalgic, full of post-war fashion and glamour, but—at its heart—it's a book about mothers and daughters, about the women who make us the people we become".