Sally Jay’s main objective is to secure Larry for herself. This has been organised by Larry, who has brought along a hunky Canadian who is keen to take up with Sally Jay and a girl he wants to seduce. He is serious, but she leaves him to spend the summer in a villa near Biarritz. She moves on through many casual encounters, and a relationship with Paul, an American painter. She wanted to lose her virginity and she thought it was rather dashing to have an affair with a man who already had both a wife and mistress. She decides to ditch the Italian diplomat with whom she has been having an affair. (9) A bit on the transgressive and scatty side then. My laundry hasn’t come back yet.’ (10)Īnd her hair is pink, originally ‘dyed a marvellous shade of red so popular with Parisian tarts that season’. She certainly attracts attention, not least because when she first appears she is wearing an evening gown and it is around eleven in the morning. Sally Jay appears to be lively and irresistible.

Too many evenings in the bars and nightclubs, pursued by men, following her dream of becoming an actress and hooking up with Larry Keevil. (Really, the name should have been the clue.) At the time I thought it was risqué, funny, modern, definitely the voice of youth. Now with a reread it feels dated, and I have to admit that I was a little bored at times. I first read this in 1961, perhaps the very copy I still have in my possession.

The dud avocado book