Rona Jaffe

In 1952, after the unhappy breakup of her engagement, twenty-year-old Caroline Bender starts her first job as a secretary in the typing pool of Fabian Publications in New York City, where she joins four other young employees, each with their individual goals and dreams, at the New York publishing company. Reprint.

A Novel

The Best of Everything

Before Valley of the Dolls and Sex and the City--the iconic novel of ambitious career girls in New York City

When it was first published in 1958, Rona Jaffe's debut novel electrified readers who saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing company. There's Ivy League Caroline, who dreams of graduating from the typing pool to an editor's office, naive country girl April, who within months of hitting town reinvents herself as the woman every man wants on his arm; Gregg, the free-spirited actress with a secret yearning for domesticity. Now a classic, and as page-turning as when it first came out, The Best of Everything portrays their lives and passions with intelligence, affection and prose as sharp as a paper cut.
(back cover)

Mr. Right Is Dead

Often regarded as her finest and most literary work, Mr. Right Is Dead is Rona Jaffe’s collection of short stories from 1965. Containing five stories and one novella, each story has the savvy and sharp tone that characterize the best of Rona Jaffe’s writing. The title novella centers on a call girl with “a heart of gold,” who acquires lovers and money with her innocent charm, and closes with “Rima The Bird Girl,” about a woman who assumes a new identity each time she has an affair. Each story carries its own unique and engaging voice; altogether they are about women looking for self-fulfillment and salvation through lovers, money, and fleeting worldly pleasures. Mr. Right Is Dead is about those searching desperately for “the best of everything” and learning a great deal about love, and its falsities, along the way.

Stories

Four university friends, obsessed with a fantasy role-playing game delve into the darkest parts of their minds and carry the game one terrible step too far

Mazes and Monsters

Class reunion

Maria Bonetti

Il meglio della vita

Family Secrets

While struggling to keep pace with rapidly shifting mores, four middleaged women, all former classmates, also try to accept the successes and the disappointments they have experienced in life

Class Reunion

Follows the century-long life story of Rose Smith, who is born in 1900, loses her mother in childhood, and witnesses firsthand the remarkable history-making events, changes, and advances taking place in America

The Road Taken

The Other Woman

From the New York Times– bestselling author of The Best of Everything, a female assistant to a Hollywood agent navigates celebrity lifestyles and romance. Geraldine Thompson returns to New York City to what should have been a dream job: personal assistant to Sam Leo Libra, publicity agent to some of the biggest names in film, television, music and fashion. Only Gerry quickly discovers that being Mr. Libra's assistant means keeping herself from getting caught in the puppet strings he keeps on anyone in his employment. Turns out Gerry's up to the task of managing Libra's machinations—as well as helping the legendary publicist nurture the eccentric personalities that make up his elite clientele—celebrities so hungry for fame they will do almost anything to achieve it. But when Gerry falls for one of Libra's high-profile clients, she wonders if she'll be lost in the undertow of Dick Devere's celebrity lifestyle, or if she'll be the one who will finally get the elusive bachelor to finally settle down. A seductive look at the world of Hollywood and fashion through the eyes of a spirited, down-to-earth assistant to the stars, The Fame Game is bestselling author Rona Jaffe at her finest. Praise for the writing of Rona Jaffe: "Vivid and trenchant . . . Wry and very readable . . . A minor genius." — The New York Times Book Review "Jaffe has not lost her wit, her keen eye for human frailties and her ear for the small but telling remark." — Publishers Weekly "Reading Rona Jaffe is like being presented with a Cartier watch: you know exactly what you're getting and it's just what you want. Put your feet up, take the phone off the hook, and enjoy." — Cosmopolitan

The Fame Game

Rachel Syme

Best of Everything

An American Love Story

In una gelida mattina del 1952 a New York, Caroline Bender, completo grigio di tweed, borsetta di cuoio con miseri cinque dollari all’interno, varca la soglia della casa editrice Fabian – cinque piani ad aria condizionata, poltrone di cuoio e interni dalle geometrie déco – per il suo primo giorno di lavoro. Nella casa editrice, altre due ragazze condividono con lei l’emozione del debutto: April Morrison, una texana col viso così bello da togliere il respiro, e Gregg Adams, una bocca che fa sembrare peccaminoso persino fumare una sigaretta. Tra dirigenti sadici e feroci e colleghi ambiziosi e affascinanti, le tre ragazze svolgono con distratta grazia il loro lavoro, sognando di conquistare tutto quello che ogni giovane donna può desiderare, all’alba degli anni Cinquanta, a New York: the best of everything, il meglio della vita, il meglio di ogni cosa. «Un classico nel suo genere. Dialoghi reali, personaggi reali. Le ragazze in carriera di ogni epoca non possono non riconoscersi». Saturday Review «Rona Jaffe ci fa credere che cose incredibili accadono nei bar e negli appartamenti newyorchesi». The Cleveland Press «Chiunque lavori in un ufficio, leggendo questo libro non può fare a meno di chiedersi che cosa facciano le ragazze del suo ufficio all’ora di pranzo e, soprattutto, con chi». New York Post «Avvincente, divertente e, in alcune circostanze, tragico. Ha lasciato senza parole generazioni intere». The Houston Press

Sam Leo Libra is a fame-maker, living in his own glamorous world of hand-picked celebrities. His carefully selected “Dirty Dozen” are an elite clientele of fame-hungry clients whom he moves and manipulates as he sees fit, and his influence makes them millionaires. Seen through the eyes of Libra’s good-girl assistant, The Fame Game offers a rare glimpse into the world of fashion and Hollywood high-rollers, where those desperate enough can rise to the top, even if it means paying the price through decadence and degradation.

Rona Jaffes iconische pageturner verscheen in 1958 en maakte bij verschijnen een enorme indruk. Sommige lezers waren geschokt, maar de meeste, miljoenen, vonden het fantastisch zichzelf in het verhaal van de vijf jonge, ambitieuze medewerkers van een New Yorkse uitgeverij te kunnen herkennen. Van alles het beste volgt meisjes als de pas afgestudeerde Caroline, die op de typekamer droomt van een promotie tot redacteur, April, het naïeve provinciaaltje, dat in een paar maanden tijd transformeert tot een vrouw met wie elke man gezien wil worden, en Gregg, de vrijgevochten actrice, die stiekem hunkert naar een huiselijk bestaan. Jaffe volgt hun persoonlijke en zakelijke strubbelingen in intelligent, meelevend proza, dat tegelijk zo scherp is dat je je eraan kunt snijden.

Van alles het beste

Suspenseful, captivating, and ultimately moving, The Last Chance is about four women friends in their late thirties trying to survive the dangerous and fast-paced world of New York City while also battling the subtle violence in their private lives. Each of them has dreams of finding love, success, and adventure in the big city. Each is desperately searching for a last chance. They will make difficult choices and face unbearable consequences, and by the end of the year, one of the women will die an unnatural and uncanny death . . . The Last Chance is a tense and unexpected story about what it takes to survive and find control over your fate when everything seems to be working against you.

Rona Jaffe

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