A vintage book, Peyton Place, by Grace Metalious. Copyright 1956 by simon and Schuster Inc. Published by Simon and Schuster, New York. Hardcover. Language: English. Signed by the author inside. Peyton Place is a 1956 novel by the American author Grace Metalious. Set in New England in the time periods before and after World War II, the novel tells the story of three women who are forced to come to terms with their identity, both as women and as sexual beings, in a small, conservative, gossipy town. The novel sold 60 000 copies of the novel within the first ten days of its release, and it remained on The New York Times best seller list for 59 weeks. Vintage Antiquarian and Librarian Specimens books for Collectors.