THE BODY DOUBLE (DOUBLEDAY)From a refreshingly honest new voice in
fiction, Emily Beyda, comes The Body Double. Taking cues from both
David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring,
The Body Double is a cinematic and fabulously plotted noir that
follows a young woman plucked from obscurity by a charming stranger to
impersonate reclusive starlet, Rosanna Feld.
At first alluring and exciting, our narrator’s new life as a body
double quickly turns sour. Locked up in a small apartment in the
hills, she studies footage of Rosanna, eats her favorite foods, wears
her clothes, and endures punishing exercises to obtain Rosanna’s
“perfect” body. She takes on Rosanna’s public persona and gains
entry to her inner circle, but her sense of self deteriorates and
doubts start to arise.
The Body Double is a stunning exploration of fame, beauty, and the
hidden cost of keeping up appearances. Equal parts engrossing and
unnerving, Beyda’s debut novel offers a sharply observed portrayal
of the dark side of Hollywood. Growing up in LA, Beyda worked for the
family of a famous Hollywood star and her intimate knowledge of that
world informs every detail on the page.
ADVANCED PRAISE:
"EMILY BEYDA'S BOOK IS SO GOOD SHE DOESN'T NEED A BLURB FROM ME."
–Eve Babitz
"A treat... An exploration of women’s identities merging can be
fertile ground to play with notions of gender and identity, and
never-more-so than in The Body DOUBLE."
–CrimeReads
"Well executed... lush and operatic... As she meets her fate with
slow-burning horror, the unnamed woman fades like a ghost in a haunted
house, its rooms as hollow as the empty promise of stardom. A
nightmarish and unsettling story.”
–Kirkus Reviews
EMILY BEYDA is a Los Angeles native who for the past three yearshas
written the popular "Dear Glutton" advice column in _The Austin
Chronicle_. A graduate of Texas State's M.F.A. program, she currently
resides back in L.A, The Body Double is her first novel.
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05/03/2020 Last update