Elaine Dundy

En un mundo ideal uno escribiría siempre lo que quiere, no lo que puede. Y haría los libros conforme a un plan y ese plan no cambiaría con el tiempo, sino que abriría espacios en ese mismo tiempo para imponer nuestro deseo. La realidad, al menos en mi caso, es muy distinta. Desde hace algun tiempo los libros se organizan a su gusto a partir del material que voy reuniendo casi sin darme cuenta: notas dispersas, poemas, ensayos y traducciones Todo cobra forma por azar o al dictado de circunstancias que me rebasan, y el resultado final aparece solo cuando quiere, o cuando me necesita para completarse. No es que los libros se hagan solos (su esfuerzo me ha supuesto escribirlos, despues de todo), pero si que llegan a su termino por caminos o carriles que nunca habria supuesto.

A hugely entertaining novel of sex, lies and Americans in Paris, dripping with the sarcasm those Americans are not supposed to have. Published as part of a beautifully designed series to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Virago Modern Classics.

Betsy Loy Saegessor busca venganza. Su padre ha muerto, y lo peor es que la fortuna que debía ser suya ahora está en manos de un legendario y reconocido escritor inglés, C.D. Mckee, y para recuperarla hará hasta lo imposible. Para cumplir con su objetivo crea un alter ego: Honey Flood, una rica estadounidense cuya aburrida vida llena de lujos en Estados Unidos la impulsa a vivir una experiencia en

Author of the celebrated and hilarious THE DUD AVOCADO, the classic novel about a young American ingenue in Paris, Elaine Dundy was born in New York in the 1930s. Her first years were spent in an apartment on Park Avenue until the stock market crash wiped out most of the familys money. She went to university in the south where, among other studies, she worked hard at losing her virginity. Deciding the stage was her true home, Elaine Dundy headed first to Paris and then to London, where she met and married the famous theatre critic Kenneth Tynan. Though their union was intoxicating, it was far from easy and the successful publication in 1958 of her novel finished off the marriage. But it was the opening of a new world of writers for Elaine Dundy, including friendships with Tennessee Williams, Hemingway and Gore Vidal. Extremely funny and extraordinarily honest this wonderfully remembered story of growing up in America is as much a tonic as life itself.

A gloriously funny novel . . . it still brings a smile to my face forty years later JILLY COOPERDefinitely demonic, exquisitely carved, deadly murderous comedy DAWN POWELL, WASHINGTON POST Elaine Dundys young and sexy American heroine, named (excellently) Honey FloodLOS ANGELES TIMESIn The Dud Avocado, Elaine Dundy revealed the life of the young expatriate in Paris in all its hilarious and heartbreaking drama. With The Old Man and Me, written when Dundy was living in England in the early 1960s, she tackles the American girl in London, a bit older but certainly no wiser. Theres love and theres revenge. Betsy Lou Saegessor is bent on revenge. Her father is dead and to top it off, the vast fortune that should have been hers has ended up, through the second marriage of her now deceased stepmother, in the bank account of the legendary and elusive Englishman, C. D. McKee.So Betsy sets out from New York to seduce and betray him. C .D. is fat and ugly, but boy is he sexy. Betsy follows him through the night clubs of London, grooving to jazz, smoking hash and plotting murder.

Funny, funny, funny. Shes wicked and wiseGRETA GERWIGOne falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentenceOBSERVERScandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and trueEVENING STANDARDOne of the best novels about growing up fastGUARDIANThis dizzying evocation of youth, sex, irresponsibility and doubt is laugh-out-loud funnyDAILY MAILHere was all the gaiety and glory and sparkle I knew was going to be life if I could just grasp it . . . Sally Jay Gorce is a girl hellbent on living. Its the 1950s and shes an American in Paris: witty, headstrong and disaster-prone. She dyes her hair pink, wears evening dresses in the daytime and prowls the Left Bank in search of love, adventure and fame. But an education like this doesnt come cheap. Will our heroine be forced back to the States to fulfill her destiny as a librarian, or can she keep up her whirlwind Parisian existence? As effervescent as a champagne cocktail, The Dud Avocado is a deliciously funny cult classic.INTRODUCED BY RACHEL COOKE

A smart, funny classic about a young and beautiful American woman who moves to Paris determined to live life to the fullest. The Dud Avocado follows the romantic and comedic adventures of a young American who heads overseas to conquer Paris in the late 1950s. Edith Wharton and Henry James wrote about the American girl abroad, but it was Elaine Dundys Sally Jay Gorce who told us what she was really thinking. Charming, sexy, and hilarious, The Dud Avocado gained instant cult status when it was first published and it remains a timeless portrait of a woman hell-bent on living. I had to tell someone how much I enjoyed The Dud Avocado. It made me laugh, scream, and guffaw (which, incidentally, is a great name for a law firm). Groucho Marx "[The Dud Avocado] is one of the best novels about growing up fast..." -The Guardian