The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc (50 page)
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Authors: Loraine Despres
Tags: #Loraine Despres - Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc 356p 9780060505882 0060505885, #ISBN 0-688-17389-6, #ISBN 0-06-050588-5 (pbk.)
L o r a i n e D e s p r e s
them as they wept hot tears when the humiliated men in their lives
left them, or worse, stayed and treated them badly. She had to write
the Southern Belle’s Handbook for them, to help them attract a
good man and keep him in line, because Sissy knew even the best of
men needed a little managing. And if the other women took up the
handbook, maybe Marilee would too. Then maybe, just maybe, her
daughter would be able to find happiness, and not just empty bus-
tle, in her life.
The high school band struck up her old school march, and Clara
slipped her arm around her cousin’s waist. The two old ladies
waved as the crowd cheered.
But how could she write the handbook? She’d never written any-
thing except thank-you letters. Of course she’d helped with the
speeches and put together fund-raising proposals, but that wasn’t
really writing.
As the band played and the crowd sang “Onward, onward to vic-
tory!” Clara took Sissy’s hand in hers and held it up in a victory
salute. The crowd went wild. Parker and Marilee applauded loudly,
beaming with pride.
Suddenly Sissy knew she’d never succeed unless she tried. She
had to take that first step. She’d write down what she remembered.
The rest would come. Hell, she was only seventy-six. She had time.
There are so many people who helped me give birth to this
novel. I am indebted first and foremost to my agent, Robert Tabian,
who kept the faith and never let me down, and to my editor, Claire
Wachtel, a woman of great taste and perspicacity. I also want to
thank Jennifer Pooley at William Morrow/HarperCollins for her
guidance and hand-holding, and Sharyn Rosenblum for her bril-
liant support. Sissy was born in Deena Metzger’s workshop, and
without her prodding, Sissy and her eccentric family might never
have kept me awake at night and invaded my dreams. I am
indebted to Mollie Gregory, Johnna Levine, and especially Sarah
Timberman for their careful reading of the manuscript and their
enthusiasm for it in its earliest stages and to Patricia Eskovitz and
Dr. Ernest Scheuer, who proofed it at the end. Carolyn Kolb in New
Orleans supplemented my childhood memories with her own recol-
lections of small-town life in Louisiana. My father-in-law, Dr. Ches-
more Eastlake, researched illegal abortions in the 1940s for me.
The accuracies are theirs; any mistakes are all my own. I wish to
acknowledge Dianne Dixon, who with unbridled enthusiasm urged
me on. (Easy for you, Dianne.) And I am eternally grateful to my
fellow writers, who have inspired me and who go daily into solitary
rooms, sit in front of relentlessly whirring computers, and attempt
to commit literature. I appreciate my son, David Despres Mulhol-
land, for his unswerving belief that I could do anything. Finally, for
my peculiar worldview I am beholden to the memories of two great
southern belles—my grandmother Dora Stern and my aunt Francis
Stern Schwarz—and to the memory of my mother, Doris Stern
Despres, who never let the bastards get the better of her. This book
could not have been written without any of them.
Raised in Louisiana, L O R A I N E D E S P R E S brings
her small-town, magnolia-sweet charm, cynical
humor, and experience growing up as a daughter
of the South to her irresistible debut novel,
The
Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc
. A popular
and prolific screenwriter, international writing
consultant, and teacher, she has one son, David
Mulholland, from a brief, early marriage. She
now lives in Beverly Hills with her husband,
Carleton Eastlake, who, fifteen years ago, suc-
cumbed to the charms of a Southern belle and
helped her prove the truth of Rule 101: “You
can’t change the past, but a smart girl won’t let
that stop her.”
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the scandalous summer of sissy leblanc. Copyright © 2001 by The Eastlake/Despres
Co. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBound™.
PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader September 2005 ISBN 0-06-089840-2
First Perennial edition published 2002.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:
Despres, Loraine.
The scandalous summer of Sissy LeBlanc / Loraine Despres.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-688-17389-6
ISBN 0-06-050588-5 (pbk.)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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