Product Description

The juicy biography of the scandalous novelist who lifted the lid off a New England town

Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle, she comes and goes as she pleases so that one is never sure whether she will come at all, nor for how long she will stay. . . .

So begins Peyton Place by Grace Metalious (1924-1964). In September, 1956, it burst onto the American scene as the most controversial novel of the century. Its publication was also an extraordinary story of personal triumph. Grace Metalious, an unpretentious housewife from the wrong side of the tracks, had written an explosive bestseller. From a ramshackle cottage in a small New England milltown, she zoomed to national stardom. She met movie stars, famous writers, and the hangers-on who gravitate to those who achieve sudden wealth. She partied with the glamorous; she traveled; always a generous friend, she entertained lavishly. It was a Cinderella dream. But it did not last.

Grace refused to be confined by the fifties' notions of a woman's place. In her struggle to find herself, she lifted the lid off sex and violence, power and powerlessness, truth and hypocrisy, and became known as the Pandora in Blue Jeans. "If I'm a lousy writer," she said, "then an awful lot of people have got lousy taste."

Reporters could not resist the story: A wife and mother of three had written this sensational exposé. Her own affairs, her personal excesses, her outspokenness, continually shocked and fascinated America.

Emily Toth has given us a complete and sympathetic portrait of Grace: the idealistic young scribbler, the partier, the sometimes reluctant wife and mother. Tracing the television shows, the films, the Peyton Place sequels and later novels, Toth shows Grace plagued by periods of self-doubt and loneliness, striving desperately and feeling pressured to create another "hit."

Grace Metalious's life is the material modern novels are made of. Inside Peyton Place is the story of a woman out of step with her times, a poignant tale of a strong yet vulnerable individual who dreamed of having everything -- and then unfortunately found it.

Emily Toth, a professor of English and Women's Studies at Louisiana State University, is the author or editor of ten books, including Unveiling Kate Chopin (University Press of Mississippi) and Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #667560 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 409 pages

From the Inside Flap
The juicy biography of the scandalous novelist who lifted the lid off a New England town

Customer Reviews

A trailblazer in blue jeans
Grace Metalious said that she highly doubted if anyone would remember the title "Peyton Place" after her death. Sadly, she died in 1964, from alcoholism, less than ten years after Peyton Place was published. Emily Toth's biography is a fascinating and compelling story of how two women (Metalious and publisher Kitty Messner)rocked the publishing world with a book that many publishers scoffed at, and dismissed as trash. Toth reveals how timing and crafty publicity tactics started a sensational buzz about a book that was ripe for America's stagnant and sterile 1950's. It broke all records for book sales up to that time, and held that spot for over 10 years. The financial success was liberating yet highly troubling for Grace. It led to a broken marriage, several unhappy afairs, tensions with her family and a fatal addiction to alcohol. Once Peyton Place took off, it had a life of it's own. Although it was continually associated with Grace, she had no control over the popular movie or sensational television series. Grace Metalious was independent, outspoken, and certainly not a conformist. She broke all the rules, succeeded, yet paid a hefty price.

Exceptional biography
I read Peyton Place at its fifty year mark for the first time, and thoroughly enjoyed it, as did my book group. The biography offered wonderful addenda to our discussion, and gave me a clear picture of Grace Metalious. It is very well written, and reads like a novel. Do both and do your book group a favor!

Unexpected pleasure
I picked up this book and thought it would be some old fashioned boring novel, I was verry surprised the book was sensational, I could not put it down. I am now reading Return to Peyton Place and am equally impressed. It is as current as any book written today. All things don't change.