The Love Machine (novel) only one which has at its center a male character. It was, Susann stated, an "attempt to get inside of men's ids." It's also the only Susann novel with an ostensibly happy ending. Susann dedicated the book to her friend Carol Bjorkman, a columnist for "Women's Wear Daily", who died of leukemia in 1967. Critical reception of "The Love Machine" was not positive, but it was slightly better than that of "Valley of the Dolls." Although Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of "The New York Times" wrote that the novel "is popcorn... the kernel of an idea, the seed of an inspiration, exploded
The Valley of Decision (novel) The Valley of Decision (novel) The Valley of Decision is an historical novel by the American writer Marcia Davenport (1903–1996). It was a national bestseller in the 1940s and adapted into a film, "The Valley of Decision", in 1945. During the late 1930s Davenport, best known for her biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, spent several years in Pittsburgh, her imagination caught by the drama of American industry. In 1942, Charles Scribner's Sons published her Pittsburgh novel, "The Valley of Decision". It was an instant success, and its story of four generations of the Scott family—owners and operators of a Pittsburgh