Looking for Mr. Goodbar to these events, which the book details, Theresa is a child suffering from ugly duckling syndrome, followed by an ordeal as an adult in college in which she is engaged in a committed relationship with a married man who is using her as a companion. The relationship ends, and Theresa experiences a bevy of sexual encounters that are fleeting and pathological. By 1973, having published three novels, Judith Rossner was a writer of "impeccable literary credentials." Invited by Nora Ephron to contribute to a special women's issue of "Esquire" magazine, Rossner wrote an article about a real-life murder that had
Judith Rossner exploration of the intimate, complex connections between food and emotion..." Rossner published her last novel, "Perfidia" (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday), in 1997 to extraordinary reviews. "Pefidia" (which means "treachery" in Spanish) was, like "Looking for Mr. Goodbar", inspired by a real-life murder. A "chilling" story of an abusive mother and the daughter who kills her, the novel is "a scorching portrait of attachment and loss." Hailed as "[r]elentless, suspenseful, and absolutely captivating," "Perfidia" is a novel which "burns hypnotically." In 2002, Rossner married educational publisher Stanley Leff, with whom she had begun a relationship in 1985. Rossner died from complications of