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The Dud Avocado

By Elaine Dundy
Series: Virago Modern Classics
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.66 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 10,420 ratings, 1,637 reviews)
Brief Description
'Funny, funny, funny. She's wicked and wise' GRETA GERWIG'One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentence' OBSERVER'Scandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and true' EVENING STANDARD'One of the best novels about growing up fast' GUARDIANHere was all the... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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A sparkling cult classic about sex, growing up and being an American in Paris - now reissued in the gorgeous new green spine design.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
'Funny, funny, funny. She's wicked and wise' GRETA GERWIG

'One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentence' OBSERVER

'Scandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and true' EVENING STANDARD

'One of the best novels about growing up fast' GUARDIAN

Here was all the gaiety and glory and sparkle I knew was going to be life if I could just grasp it . . .

Sally Jay Gorce is a girl hellbent on living. It's the 1950s and she's an American in Paris: witty, headstrong and disaster-prone. She dyes her hair pink, wears evening dresses in the daytime and prowls the Left Bank in search of love, adventure and fame. But 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?

As effervescent as a champagne cocktail, The Dud Avocado is a deliciously funny cult classic.

INTRODUCED BY RACHEL COOKE

Series: Virago Modern Classics

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780349020884

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 22 January 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Virago Press Ltd

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Rachel Cooke
  • Introduction by Rachel Cooke

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 267g

Pages: 336

Collections

Elaine Dundy Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Series: Virago Modern Classics

About the Author

Elaine Dundy (1921-2008) grew up in New York City and Long Island. After graduating from Sweet Briar College in 1943, she worked as an actress in Paris and, later, London, where she met her future husband, the theater critic Kenneth Tynan.

Dundy wrote three novels, The Dud Avocado (1958), The Old Man and Me (1964), and The Injured Party (1974); a play, My Place (produced in 1962); biographies of Elvis Presley and the actor Peter Finch; a study of Ferriday, Louisiana; and a memoir, Life Itself!

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  • The Dud Avocado
    'One of the best novels about growing up fast' GUARDIAN 'One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentence' OBSERVER 'Scandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and true' EVENING STANDARD The Dud Avocado gained instant cult status on first publication and remains a timeless portrait of a woman hellbent on living. Sally Jay...
    By Elaine Dundy
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