The Dud Avocado
Semi-autobiographical, Sally Jay Gorce arrives in Paris determined not to waste a minute of being young and abroad. She plunges into theatre, parties, cafés, romance, unsuitable men and the pleasures of making decisions without much concern for where they might lead. There is something of The Bell Jar's, Esther, in her enthusiasm for 'the big city'.
Paris becomes a stage for reinvention. Its attraction lies partly in everything Sally Jay believes she can do there that might have seemed impossible at home. The city is glamorous because she is still discovering it, and because being an outsider gives her permission to behave differently.
Where Hemingway looks back on Paris with reverence, Dundy throws herself into it headfirst.
Expatriates; Reinvention; Youth; Paris; 1950s