Written with biting wit and cool compassion, Two Serious Ladies is a bittersweet celebration of female freedom that has been hailed as a landmark in twentieth-century literature. Copperfield  ...

This comedy of manners follows the decline into debauchery of two different women. Christina and Frieda are two staid women who want to break out but end up breaking down in Jane Bowles's bizarre and marvellous 1943 novel. Christina Goering is a wealthy spinster in pursuit of sainthood who ends up as a high-class call-girl, while Frieda Copperfield leaves her dull husband and heads for Panama where she falls in love with a prostitute.

The book is compelling and thought-provoking, and Bowles's original prose style makes it an experience to read.

"My favourite book...a classic." Tennessee Williams

"One of the really original pure stylists... a modern legend." Truman Capote

"Extremely funny fantasy." The Observer

201 pages