Call Me Scarlett

Set in France during the late '60s, this sassy, fast-paced novel depicts the romantic traumas of three audacious young friends from the provincial town of Pithiviers, all of whom seek employment and amorous delights in Paris. Promiscuous Juliette Tuille moves to the city to forget her fickle boyfriend. She assists the owner of a prosperous Parisian concrete company, energetically deflecting his sexual advances, while coming to adore Louis Gaillard, an unkempt, oversexed maverick who won't commit himself to her. Wealthy Severine Tassin becomes a reporter for Le Figaro, and to guarantee her success begins an affair with her editor, who renounces her for another woman. While working in a supermarket, Martine Maraut falls in love with a thief, but he abruptly vanishes after discovering that she plans to come to America. These hapless girls prove too brittle to elicit our sympathy; theirs is an earthy but hollow coming-of-age story. (May 1)