ANOTHER SIDE OF PARADISE

ANOTHER SIDE OF PARADISE is a glittering historical novel of the final years of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life, through the eyes of the woman who loved him last: Sheilah Graham.

Set against the backdrop of 1930s Hollywood, we encounter Sheilah Graham at the height of her powers as one of the three gossip columnists who reigned over the movie business, trafficking in other people’s secrets, all the while, in her case, keeping painful secrets of her own.

She is a glamorous figure—with the power of her pen, beauty, and posh English accent, engaged to an English aristocrat. But, when her fiancé goes home to ask for his mother’s blessing, Sheilah has a fateful meeting with F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Aging and forgotten by readers, Scott is a diminished vision of the man he once was. Struggling financially and creatively, he’s come to Hollywood to reinvent himself as a screenwriter. In the wake of their instant, powerful connection Sheilah throws over her fiancé and a life of security to be with Scott despite his reduced stature, continued marriage to sanatarium-bound Zelda, who was in a sanitarium by then, and alcoholism. As their affair develops she feels compelled to come clean about her past—she was raised in a British orphanage for Jewish children whose parents died or were too poor to take care of them. She’d used her wits and eventually her looks to climb out of her despairing circumstances and ultimately reinvent herself as a journalist in America.

Throughout the novel Koslow toggles between the intensifying relationship with Scott and flashbacks to Sheilah’s life before coming to the US. When she confesses to Scott he is initially betrayed, but then intrigued. They are both broken people in their way but, together, they come to their sins honestly. His drinking and flashes of anti-Semitism threaten to topple them, but they loved each other deeply and her unwavering belief in him allowed Scott to start writing again. Though Zelda would later often eclipse her in history, in the end, it was Sheilah who inspired Scott to produce what became his last novel, The Last Tycoon—and who held Scott on her living room floor when he suddenly died.

This is a unique perspective on the last few years of his life through the eyes of a fascinating and complex woman whose story is equally compelling.

Sally Koslow’s life has intersected with Hollywood in multiple ways, and this feels like a book she was born to write. Indeed, she is obsessed with Graham and has done an extensive study of her life, her writing, and her family. Sally’s son is a successful film and television producer, as is her niece. Sally’s first job in Manhattan was at Mademoiselle Magazine, where she rose in the ranks before taking over as Editor in Chief of McCall’s. Her previous novels are the critically acclaimed THE WIDOW WALTZ and THE LATE, LAMENTED MOLLY MARX. Sally has taught at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and is on the faculty of the New York Writer’s Workshop. She consults with and has contributed to O, Real Simple, and Ladies’ Home Journal, among others. She has lectured at Yale, Columbia, NYU, and the University of Chicago.