Authors: Lisa Jewell
1999 Sep 0, 19, 19 12th, Bee writes letter to Ana
?
9
Lol meets Keith
Bee goes on holiday to India with
26
Jan
Ed
Pro
Bee moves into Baker St. flat
34
25th Tue, Bee sees Ed and Tina with
their new babies
9, 34
26th Wed, Bee asks Lol to take care
of John
July
9, 34
28th Fri, Lol tells Bee John is
missing
34
Zander’s Birthday
15, 39
Bee takes pills
3, 9
1st Tue, Bee’s body is discovered
2000
1, 4
17th Thu, Ana arrives to clean out
Bee’s Baker St. flat
8
18th Fri, Ana meets Lol
11
19th Sat, Ana moves in with Gill
Aug
15
20th Sun, Trip to Broadstairs
21
21st Mon, Meeting with Ed
32
22nd Tue, Night out in London with
Flint
34
23rd Wed, Trip to High Cedars
41
25th Fri, Trip to Devon to visit Gay
Sep
42
2nd Sat, Bee’s memorial service
About
one-hit wonder
When the hottest pop star of the flashy ’80s disappears from the scene, she’s dismissed as another one-hit wonder—until her body is found in her half-furnished London flat, leaving more unanswered questions than clues. . . .
Her bestselling debut,
Ralph’s Party
, was called “astute and engagingly hip” by
The Baltimore Sun
; about her second novel, the
London Times
said “
thirtynothing
will keep you up all night in a sweaty, addicted reading frenzy.” Now Lisa Jewell is back on the scene with her funniest novel yet.
One-Hit
Wonder
takes you into the thrill-a-minute life of a disco diva—and the dreary life of her mousy younger sister.
Shy and gawky, Ana Wills has always daydreamed about living the life of her exotic half-sister, Bee Bearhorn, a pop singer who had a #1 hit single before she inexplicably vanished from the celebrity scene. She gets her chance when Bee turns up dead, and Ana is dispatched to the big city to clear out the apartment of her once-beloved sister. Instantly seduced by the secondhand glamour of Bee’s baubles, bangles, and bottles of champagne, Ana takes up with Bee’s wild club-hopping cronies, along with her sexy chauffeur. But news of visits to a remote country cottage and an elusive ex-boyfriend soon prove Bee was leading a secret life. Now
Ana is on a mission to discover the truth about Bee Bearhorn, the one-hit wonder—and in the process finds herself, and her future.
An irresistibly entertaining tale of a woman who takes control of her life by temporarily taking on someone else’s,
One-Hit Wonder
is this acclaimed author at her witty and captivating best.
Lisa Jewell is the bestselling author of
Ralph’s Party
and
thirtynothing
. She lives in London with her husband and their cat.
Visit www.lisajewell.com
Cover design by Melissa Jacoby
Cover photograph by Stockbyte
Author photograph by Stephen Simpson/FPG
DUTTON
A member of Penguin Putnam Inc.
Copyright
DUTTON
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
Published by Dutton, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.
Originally published in Great Britain by Penguin Books Ltd.
First American Printing, June 2002
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © Lisa Jewell, 2001
All rights reserved
Extract from Kingsley Amis’s letter to Philip Larkin © 2000
The Estate of Kingsley Amis and HarperCollins Publishers PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-
PUBLICATION DATA
Jewell, Lisa.
One-hit wonder / Lisa Jewell.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-525-94653-5 (acid-free paper)
1. Impostors and imposture—Fiction. 2. London (England)—
Fiction. 3. Sisters—Death—Fiction. 4. Women singers—
Fiction. 5. Young women—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6060.E95 O64 2002
823’.914—dc21 2001054328
Printed in the United States of America
Set in Sabon
Designed by Leonard Telesca
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
v1.0 November 2004; scripter
scan, conversion, proofing