A Vision of Loveliness

Written by Louise Levene

Narrated by Louise Levene

It's 1963, and Jane James knows that she was born for better things than evenings spent eating Heinz tinned potato salad in her Aunt's house. She dreams of a glamorous life filled with beautiful things. When Jane finds a crocodile handbag left in a pub, it leads her to Suzy, a girl-about-town with the irresistible allure that Jane has been practising for so long. Could Jane's dreams be about to come true?

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Mar 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781407472966

Louise Levene

Louise Levene is the author of A Vision of Loveliness, a BBC Book at Bedtime, which was also longlisted for the Desmond Elliott first novel prize, Ghastly Business and The Following Girls. She was the dance critic for the Sunday Telegraph for sixteen years and before that a dance writer on the Independent, but now works for the Financial Times. She has also been an advertising copywriter, a window dresser, a radio presenter, an office cleaner, a crossword editor, a university tutor, a college professor and a saleslady. She lives in London with her husband, their two children and Basher.

Reviews for A Vision of Loveliness

[herschelian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Louise Levene captures life in London in a 1960's version of Bridget Jones - my, we have come a long way from that society. Wonderfully detailed about food, clothing and attitudes to class. Jane James is both pitiable and admirable for her determination to change into 'a vision of loveliness' and when by chance she links up with Suzy St John you just know that things may take some dark turns. This was the world in which Christine Keeler and her pal Mandy Rice-Davies lived, a world of double standards, dubious morality and the petty snobbery for which the English lower middle-classes were famous. The story is sharp, funny and sad all at the same time. Although the period is before my time in the UK, some details were like Proust's madeleines - Goya bath cubes - I could practically smell them! This book is most definately NOT chick-lit, it is social satire at it's best. A most entertaining read.

[monkeyandcrow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like a Jean Rhys novel that's been shot through with a ray of sunshine.