Beyond the Valley of the Dolls his feet, the start of his recovery from paralysis. An epilogue follows, with a preachy, satirical, voice-over monologue and scenes of Kelly and Harris (now in crutches) hiking on a log over a creek, and a final scene with the courthouse wedding of three couples—Kelly and Harris, Pet and Emerson, and Susan and Baxter—with Porter observing from outside the courthouse window. Cast notes "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" was originally intended as a straightforward sequel to the 1967 film "Valley of the Dolls". Jacqueline Susann, author of the novel "Valley of the Dolls" had come up with the title
What a Carve Up! (novel) employing multiple narrative styles, different perspectives, movement between first- and third-person narrative voices and a highly fragmented timeline. Robert McCrum called it "the finest English satire from the 1980s - a memorable and explicit commentary on Thatcherism." In 2015, the author published a related novel set in the early 21st century, "Number 11". The latter novel is sometimes described as a sequel but elsewhere using other phrases such as a "sequel, of sorts." The relationship between the two books is suggested in the later novel (describing the relationship between two films, "What A Carve-Up!" and "What A Whopper", which are