Authors: Elaine Dundy & Rachel CookeModern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)Published on 22nd January 2026 by Little, Brown Book Group (Virago Press Ltd) in the United Kingdom as part of the 'VMC' series.Paperback / softback | 336 pages 196mm x 126mm | 260g 'Funny, funny, funny. She's wicked and wise' GRETA GERWIG'One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentence' OBSERVER'Scandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and true' EVENING STANDARD'One of the best novels about growing up fast' GUARDIANHere was all the gaiety and glory and sparkle I knew was going to be life if I could just grasp it . . . Sally Jay Gorce is a girl hellbent on living. It's the 1950s and she's an American in Paris: witty, headstrong and disaster-prone. She dyes her hair pink, wears evening dresses in the daytime and prowls the Left Bank in search of love, adventure and fame. But an education like this doesn't come cheap. Will our heroine be forced back to the States to fulfill her destiny as a librarian, or can she keep up her whirlwind Parisian existence? As effervescent as a champagne cocktail, The Dud Avocado is a deliciously funny cult classic.INTRODUCED BY RACHEL COOKE
