Bagshawe, Louise

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Bagshawe, Louise

PERSONAL:

Married Anthony LoCicero; children: one son, one daughter. Education: Graduate of Oxford University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—East Sussex, England. Agent—Michael Sissons, PFD, Drury House, 34-43 Russell St., London WC2B 5HA, England.

CAREER:

Writer; worked in the record business.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Young Poet of the Year, 1989.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Career Girls, Orion (London, England), 1995.

The Movie, Orion (London, England), 1996, published as Triple Feature, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

Tall Poppies, Orion (London, England), 1997.

Venus Envy, Orion (London, England), 1998.

When She Was Bad …, Orion (London, England), 2001.

A Kept Woman, Orion (London, England), 2001.

For All the Wrong Reasons, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Three Great Novels: Career Girls, The Movie, Tall Poppies, Orion (London, England), 2002.

The Devil You Know, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Two Great Novels: Career Girls; The Movie, Orion (London, England), 2004.

Monday's Child, Headline (London, England), 2004, published as The Go-To Girl, St. Martin's Griffin (New York, NY), 2005.

Tuesday's Child, Headline (London, England), 2005.

Three Great Novels: Venus Envy; A Kept Woman; When She Was Bad …, Orion (London, England), 2005.

Sparkles, Headline Review (London, England), 2006, Plume (New York, NY), 2007.

Glamour, Headline (London, England), 2007.

Contributor to anthologies.

SIDELIGHTS:

Louise Bagshawe became a full-time writer in her early twenties. The second of her erotic chick lit novels, The Movie, was published in the United States as Triple Feature. Megan Silver, the book's protagonist, is a waitress who has written a script for a promising film, and agent Sam Kendrick and his associate, David Tauber, sign Megan, as well as director Fred Florescu, rocker Zach Mason, and temperamental supermodel Roxana Felix for the film that is picked up by Eleanor Marshall, president of Artemis Studios. Eleanor needs a hit and signs on to the production hoping to save her professional career. In her personal life Eleanor is involved with two men and also longing for a child. The film is shot in the Seychelles against a backdrop of drug use, sex, and designer clothing. Library Journal contributor Susan Clifford described the novel as being "raunchy, racy and pure commercial fiction."

In reviewing another of Bagshawe's titles, For All the Wrong Reasons, in Booklist, Kathleen Hughes wrote: "Bagshawe packs her novel with lurid sexual details, and it comes complete with a fairy-tale ending." Diana Verity marries Ernie Foxton, whose new publishing position takes them to New York. When she discovers him with his favorite dominatrix, she walks out on him and the upscale lifestyle she has enjoyed. Diana takes a clerical job and falls for her Bronx-native, blue-collar boss, publisher of children's books Michael Cicero, and her new independence enables her to become successful in her own right. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote: "Bagshawe doesn't try to sugarcoat her characters' ruthless, selfish or venal behavior, giving her story a witty edge."

The Devil You Know is the story of three women who ultimately discover they have something in common. The beautiful Rose Fiorella plans revenge against Rothstein Realty—which destroyed her family's business—through a relationship with heir Jake Rothstein. Dowdy Daisy Markham, who dreams of the glamorous life, finds that she has a talent for writing about it; and Poppy Allen, who is beautiful enough to be a star, is more interested in using her business acumen to create stars of other people.

The protagonist of Monday's Child, published in the United States as The Go-To Girl, is script reader Anna Brown, a homely young woman whose roommates are gorgeous models. Anna has a script of her own, but when she has the opportunity to pitch it to film director Mark Swan, she bungles the chances for both her script and a possible romance. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that "the inevitable makeover scene is good fun."

Sparkles is the story of a jewelry empire. Pierre Massot, the husband of British-born Sophie Roberts, disappears, leaving her to care for their son. After seven years she has him declared legally dead and throws herself into running the business, but she doesn't quite have the business sense to deal with new CEO Gregoire Lazard. Sophie also experiences tension in her relationship with Judy Dean, an American who found a home at House Massot, and a place in Pierre's bed. A Publishers Weekly critic compared Sparkles to the 1970s best seller Scruples and described it as being an "internationally flavored fantasia on love, lies and shopping."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 1997, Jennifer Henderson, review of Triple Feature, p. 1385; February 1, 2002, Kathleen Hughes, review of For All the Wrong Reasons; January 1, 2005, Kaite Mediatore, review of The Go-To Girl, p. 811.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2001, review of For All the Wrong Reasons, p. 1699; September 1, 2003, review of The Devil You Know, p. 1085; October 1, 2006, review of Sparkles, p. 975.

Library Journal, April 1, 1997, Susan Clifford, review of Triple Feature, p. 120.

Publishers Weekly, March 10, 1997, review of Triple Feature, p. 50; January 14, 2002, review of For All the Wrong Reasons, p. 36; December 13, 2004, review of The Go-To Girl, p. 43; January 1, 2007, review of Sparkles, p. 30.