Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
"Born in the twenties to nomadic, bohemian parents, Paula Fox is left at birth in a Manhattan orphanage. Rescued at the last moment, she is taken into the care of a poor but cultivated Congregational minister in upstate New York. But her parents soon resurface.
Her handsome father is a hard-drinking raconteur and screenwriter (among his credits is The Last Train to Madrid, called by Graham Greene "the worst movie I ever saw") who is, for young Paula, "part ally, part betrayer." Her mother, a frightening, infrequent presence, is given to icy bursts of temper that punctuate a deep indifference. How, Fox wonders, is this woman "enough of an organic being to have carried me in her belly?"".
"Never sharing more than a few scattered moments with their daughter, Fox's parents shuttle her from one exotic place to another. In New York City she lives with her passive Spanish grandmother. In Cuba she wanders about freely on a sugarcane plantation owned by a wealthy distant relative. In Florida she is left with a housekeeper she has known only for days. In California she finds herself cast away on the dismal margins of Hollywood.
Throughout, famous actors and literary celebrities glitteringly appear and then fade away - John Wayne, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Maxwell Perkins, Orson Welles, James Cagney, and Stella Adler, to name a few. The thread binding Fox's wanderings is the "borrowed finery" of the title - a few pieces of clothing, almost always lent by kindhearted strangers, that offer Fox a rare glimpse of permanency."--BOOK JACKET.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Previews available in: Undetermined English
Subjects
American Novelists, American Authors, Childhood and youth, Biography, Women authors, Authors, biography, Authors, american, Women, united states, biography, New York Times reviewed, American Women novelists, Romancières américaines, Enfance et jeunessePeople
Paula Fox, Paula Fox (1923-)Times
20th century, 20e siècleShowing 5 featured editions. View all 12 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2 |
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3 |
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
5 |
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Source records
Scriblio MARC recordInternet Archive item record
marc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary MARC record
Library of Congress MARC record
Better World Books record
Internet Archive item record
marc_columbia MARC record
Work Description
In this moving and unusual memoir - this portrait of a life adrift - there are many things Paula can't remember, many things she can't explain, but the gaps are telling, signifying a child's quiet acceptance of the way things are.
Links outside Open Library
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created April 1, 2008
- 16 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
November 14, 2023 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
February 22, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
October 12, 2020 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
August 14, 2020 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from Scriblio MARC record |