First edition, octavo; bound in full black morocco, gilt-ruled and lettered, with gilt-stamped floral turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt; including the original pictorial dust jacket bound-in at rear; 7 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.
O'Hara's second novel is the basis for the 1960 film featuring Elizabeth Taylor for which she won her first Academy Award. The plot takes inspiration from the life of Starr Faithfull, a socialite flapper who died in a mysterious drowning incident in 1931. The event was a tabloid sensation because of her social status, beauty, and allegations from the press that she had been sexually abused by the wealthy politician Andrew James Peters as a child. Faithfull's tragic death, prematurely ending her sparkling yet tumultuous life, was referred to by Time magazine as a "sexy death mystery."
