From a teenager in wartime England to a veteran of modern-day London, via 1950’s New York, the Swinging Sixties, Cold War Berlin, Venice and Vietnam – Ruby Devereaux has lived one hell of a life. Parties, scandals and conflict zones, meeting men and adventure along the way. In a writing career, spanning seven decades and more than twenty books, she’s distilled everything into her work. Now beyond her 90th year, Ruby’s energy is ebbing and her beloved typewriter put away. Until a call from her publisher presents Ruby with an ultimatum, and the impetus to embark on one last book – warts and all. Even in her
dotage, Ruby M Devereux has the power to surprise! One hell of a life. And one hell of a book … The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux by M J Robotham. Head of Zeus
Paris, 1923. The city is a Bohemian paradise for beautiful and wealthy foreigners seduced by the promise of a different life. Pablo Picasso is already famous, and anything seems possible in the name of art. Switch, in Jeanne Mackin’s Picasso’s Lovers, to New York, 1953. For aspiring journalist Alana Olson, there’s always been something about Picasso. Her fascination leads to a series of intimate interviews with Sara Murphy and Irene Legut, two women from Picasso’s once-vibrant French social circle. But as Alana is pulled deeper into the glamorous and tragic stories of the past, she begins to uncover what really lies beneath the canvas and a disturbing convergence with her own life that bring her closer to Picasso, and those who loved and loathed him, than she ever could have imagined. Headline
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