The Lonely Lady

This is an Intermediate Level story in a series of ELT readers comprising a wide range of titles - some original and some simplified - from modern and classic novels, and designed to appeal to all age-groups, tastes and cultures. The books are divided into five levels: Starter Level, with about 300 basic words; Beginner Level (600 basic words); Elementary Level (1100); Intermediate Level (1600); and Upper Level (2200). Some of the titles are also available on cassette.

Meet JeriLee Randall, aspiring actress, ambitious writer, and sexual powerhouse. It is this ambition that takes her away from her tiny hometown of Port Clare and sets her on a collision course with her future. Surviving on determination and seduction, she makes her way to Broadway and then on to Hollywood. The bright lights mask a deeper darkness, and JeriLee is quickly drawn into a world of greed, drugs, casting couches, and smooth-talking power players. She struggles to hold on to her honesty and the code of ethics she developed in her youth. More than anything else, she struggles to hold on to her dreams of success and stardom. It will take all her strength and cunning to escape Hollywood's death grip and beat the power elite at their own game. Harold Robbins, the author who rewrote the rules for erotic fiction, turns Hollywood on its ear in The Lonely Lady.

The novel portrays the life of a lonely, beautiful, yet over-protected Catholic girl and the several loves of her long life. A struggle develops between the demands of love and religious orthodoxy. The story takes place against the background of upper-class English and French life at the turn of the twentieth century.

Dix Steele is back in town, and 'town' is post-war LA. His best friend Brub is on the force of the LAPD, and as the two meet in country clubs and beach bars, they discuss the latest case: a strangler is preying on young women in the dark. Dix listens with interest as Brub describes their top suspect, as yet unnamed. Dix loves the dark and women in equal measure, so he knows enough to watch his step, though when he meets the luscious Laurel Gray, something begins to crack. The American Dream is showing its seamy underside.

In the late 1960s in California, a down-and-out young man receives control of an underground newspaper from his wealthy uncle and uses that outlet to become a media and entertainment mogul until a ruthless underworld syndicate vows to bring him down.