{"product_id":"dud-avocado-2","title":"Dud Avocado","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''One of the best novels about growing up fast'' \u003ci\u003eGUARDIAN \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentence'' \u003ci\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Scandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and true'' \u003ci\u003eEVENING STANDARD\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dud Avocado\u003c\/i\u003e gained instant cult status on first publication and remains a timeless portrait of a woman hellbent on living. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSally Jay Gorce is a woman with a mission. It''s the 1950s, she''s young and she''s in Paris. Having dyed her hair pink, she wears evening dresses in the daytime and vows to go native in a way not even the natives can manage. Embarking on an educational programme that includes an affair with a married man (which fizzles out when she realises he''s single and wants to marry her); nights in cabarets and jazz clubs in the company of assorted \"citizens of the world\"; an entanglement with a charming psychopath and a bit part in a film financed by a famous matador. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut an education like this doesn''t 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?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBooks included in the VMC 40th anniversary series include: \u003ci\u003eFrost in May\u003c\/i\u003e by Antonia White; \u003ci\u003eThe Collected Stories of Grace Paley\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eFire from Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e by Mary Renault; \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Toyshop\u003c\/i\u003e by Angela Carter; \u003ci\u003eThe Weather in the Streets \u003c\/i\u003eby Rosamond Lehmann; \u003ci\u003eDeep Water\u003c\/i\u003e by Patricia Highsmith; \u003ci\u003eThe Return of the Soldier\u003c\/i\u003e by Rebecca West; \u003ci\u003eTheir Eyes Were Watching God\u003c\/i\u003e by Zora Neale Hurston; \u003ci\u003eHeartburn\u003c\/i\u003e by Nora Ephron; \u003ci\u003eMemento Mori \u003c\/i\u003eby Muriel Spark; \u003ci\u003eA View of the Harbour\u003c\/i\u003e by Elizabeth Taylor; and \u003ci\u003eFaces in the Water\u003c\/i\u003e by Janet Frame\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57319125221758,"sku":"NW9780349010373","price":10.77,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780349010373.jpg?v=1778652251","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/dud-avocado-2","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}