According to the blurb, Jane Bowles is a celebrated American literary figure, although she only actually wrote this one novel and a collection of short stories; she suffered a brain haemmorage in her 40s which prevented her from writing anything else.
This is a rather weird book. It deals with the stories of two women who undergo a decline into debauchery after becoming associated with a couple of eccentric personages. The first character is a spinster, called Christina Goering, who effectively becomes a high class call girl. The second serious lady is Frieda Copperfield, who on holiday with her husband, decides to leave him to associate with a prostitute. The stories remain separate, although running concurrently in the book, but the point is I suppose that they are going down a similar track.
It's essentially an absurd tale and not one that I really got into. 1*.
It's been published twice by Virago; my friend had the more recent edition (and I'm quite glad that it was only a loan!)
Hmmm - this does sound quite a strange read! very appropriate front cover though - based on what you have written about it! Virago green spines had such well selected covers.
ReplyDeleteHannah