Another Side of Paradise, Paperback

In 1937 Hollywood, gossip columnist Sheilah Graham's star is on the rise, while literary wonder boy F. Scott Fitzgerald's career is slowly drowning in booze. But the once-famous author, desperate to make money penning scripts for the silver screen, is charismatic enough to attract the gorgeous Miss Graham, a woman who exposes the secrets of others while carefully guarding her own. Like Fitzgerald's hero Jay Gatsby, Graham has meticulously constructed a life far removed from the poverty of her childhood in London's slums. And like Gatsby, the onetime guttersnipe learned early how to use her charms to become a hardworking success; she is feted and feared by both the movie studios and their luminaries.

A notorious drunk famously married to the doomed Zelda, Fitzgerald fell hard for his "Shielah" (he never learned to spell her name), a shrewd yet softhearted woman--both a fool for love and nobody's fool--who would stay with him and help revive his career until his tragic death three years later. Working from Sheilah's memoirs, interviews, and letters, Sally Koslow revisits their scandalous love affair and Graham's dramatic transformation in London, bringing Graham and Fitzgerald gloriously to life with the color, glitter, magic, and passion of 1930s Hollywood.

In 1937 Hollywood gossip columnist Sheilah Graham's star is on the rise, while literary wonder boy F. Scott Fitzgerald's career is slowly drowning in booze. Yet the once-famous author, desperate to make money penning scripts for the silver screen, remains sufficiently charismatic to attract the gorgeous Miss Graham, a woman who exposes the secrets of others while carefully guarding her own. Like Fitzgerald's hero Jay Gatsby, Graham has meticulously constructed a life far removed from her childhood in London's slums. And like Gatsby, she learned early how to use her charms to become a hardworking success, feted and feared by both the movie studios and their luminaries.

Famously married to the doomed Zelda, Fitzgerald fell hard for his "Shielah" (he never learned to spell her name right), a shrewd yet kindhearted woman--both a fool for love and nobody's fool--who would stand by him and help revive the writer's career until his tragic death three years later. Working from memoirs, interviews, notes, and letters, Sally Koslow revisits Graham's dramatic self-invention in London as well as Fitzgerald and Graham's turbulent love affair, bringing the couple gloriously to life with all the glitter, magic, and passion of 1930s Hollywood.