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