Actresses

They all met again at the Drama School Reunion: the Hollywood celebrity, the out-of-work soap star, the understudy, the Shakespearian hero, the plodding small part player.

Thirty-six years earlier, the Academy's principal spoke of the great parts awaiting them. What he did not say, was that before they reached the age of 40, there would be almost no parts for the actresses. Because they had stopped being young.

But: once an actress, always an actress and on that hot, summer's day it is clear that age does not wipe out ambition. Or desire. Or memory. So that when the Reunion culminates in an accusation of rape that dominates every newspaper in the country, the past — sweet, cruel, tragic — comes flooding back, and the actresses become the stars of the story. Perceptive, funny, shocking, and wise, this novel could only have been written by somebody who has been there.

S-au intalnit cu totii din nou la Reuniunea scolii dramatice: celebritatea de la Hollywood, steaua sapunului lipsit de munca, studentia, eroul shakespearian, jucatorul de rol mic. Cu treizeci si sase de ani mai devreme, directorul Academiei a vorbit despre marile parti care ii asteptau.