Valley of the Dolls the Mount Everest of her dreams, only to find herself back in the valley of the dolls. Susann had apparently been thinking about the novel for some time. Some years earlier, she had begun "Underneath the Pancake", a show business novel, with her actress friend Beatrice Cole (c. 1910–1999). Later, she considered writing a novel about drug usage in show business to be called "The Pink Dolls". "Valley of the Dolls" is considered to be a "roman à clef", with its characters based on famous figures such as Judy Garland, Carole Landis, Dean Martin, and Ethel Merman. In 1973, after
Author, Author (novel) Author, Author (novel) Author, Author is a novel by David Lodge, written in 2004. The book is based on the life of the author Henry James. It was released at about the same time as "The Master" by Colm Tóibín and other books about James, and Lodge wrote "" about this. Lodge populates his novel with several of the most famous figures of English literature from the time of the book's setting in the late nineteenth century. The novel opens with a framing device wherein we are shown what is happening in the London home of the dying novelist at