❥ Thank you for the book gift, author Gill Paul, BiblioLifestyle, and William Morrow Books.
Synopsis
1966, NYC: Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls hits the bookstores and she is desperate for a bestseller. It’s steamy, it’s a page-turner, but will it make the big money she needs? In London, Jackie Collins’s racy The World Is Full of Married Men launches her career. But neither author is prepared for the price they will pay for being women who dare to write about sex.
Jacqueline and Jackie are lambasted by the literary establishment, deluged with hate mail, and even condemned by feminists. In public, both women shoulder the outcry with dignity; in private, they are crumbling—particularly since they have secrets they don’t want splashed across the front pages.
1965, NYC: College graduate Nancy White is excited to take up her dream job at a Manhattan publishing house, but she could never be prepared for the rampant sexism she will encounter. While working on Valley of the Dolls, she becomes friends with Jacqueline Susann, and, after reaching out to Jackie Collins about a US deal, she is responsible for the two authors meeting.
Will the two Jackies clash as they race to top the charts? Will Nancy achieve her ambition of becoming an editor, despite all the men determined to hold her back? Three women struggle to succeed in a man’s world, while desperately trying to protect those they love the most.
Thoughts
I cannot stop thinking about this five-star book. Mad Men meets the world of publishing in this novel about Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann, two iconic women writers renowned for their controversial novels. These ladies overcame personal traumas and waded through sexism in order to rise to the top and help pave the way for today’s women writers.
I will let you discover which bits of this novel are historical fiction, but I think Paul did an amazing job of staying true to these women’s legacies. With equal parts grit and glamour, this is an unputdownable read. I particularly enjoyed the mention of other familiar names, such as Barbara Walters, Sharon Tate, and Truman Capote. Well-researched and beautifully written, this is a must-read in my book.