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Two Serious Ladies
by Jane Bowles
A cult classic with an introduction by Lorna Sage and a memoir by Truman Capote. |
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 ‘I am going on a trip. Wait until I tell you about it. It’s terrible.’
Eccentric, impulsive New York heiress, Christina Goering meets the anxious but equally unpredictable Mrs Copperfield at a party. Two serious ladies, for whom nothing is natural and anything is possible, they follow their singular paths in search of salvation.
Mrs Copperfield visits Panama with her husband, whom she abandons for love of Pacifica, a local prostitute, and her brothel home. Miss Goering, for her part, seeks redemption by swapping her mansion for a squalid little house and relishing ever more extreme encounters with strangers. At the end, the two women meet again.
First published in 1943, Two Serious Ladies is a true one-off – daring and original, with deadpan humour and devastating insights. It was Jane Bowles’s masterpiece. |
 Jane Bowles wrote very little: just this one novel (published when she was twenty-six), a play (In the Summer House), and a dozen or so short stories.
But it was enough to establish a reputation as one of the twentieth century’s most original fiction writers.
Born Jane Auer, in New York City in 1917, she married the author Paul Bowles – somewhat impulsively, as both pursued primarily same-sex relationships. They were nonetheless devoted companions, living in Tangier, in adjoining apartments.
At the age of 40, Jane Bowles suffered a debilitating stroke, which brought an early end to her writing. She died in 1973. |
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Publicity Campaign will be linked to Paul Bowles centenary (and Penguin Classics re-issue of his novels and short stories).
Reviews in National Book Pages, Women’s Magazines and Style Press, focusing on Jane Bowles as a cult figure of the 1930s and 40s (with stunning photos).
Jane Bowles has high profile litrary fans, including Ali Smith and Carmen Calil. |
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 “My favourite book. I can’t think of a modern novel that seems more likely to become a classic..” Tennessee Williams
“One of the finest modern writers of fiction in any language ... no other writer can consistently produce surprise of this quality, the surprise that is the one essential ingredient of great art. Jane Bowles deals almost exclusively in this rare commodity.” John Ashberry
“A landmark in 20th century American literature.” Alan Sillitoe
“Readers who’ve not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who’ve still to read Mansfield or Woolf, and have all the delight, the shock of classic originality, the revelation of such good writing, still to come.” Ali Smith
“One of the original prose stylists.” Truman Capote |
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Pub date: June 24th 2010
Price: £7.99
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Extent: 288pp
Size: B format |
ISBN: 978-0-956-00385-0 Format: paperback |
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