Miss D & Me: Life with the Invincible Bette Davis

Bette Davis was demanding and a perfectionist, Sermak writes in her lively memoir about being the two-time Oscar-winning actress’s personal assistant. As Sermak writes, Davis valued loyalty and discretion in employees and work was her salvation. These may not be earth-shattering revelations, but Sermak’s story concentrates less on the famous star and more on her own maturation while employed by Davis from 1979 to 1985. Hired as a “girl Friday,” Sermak soaked up the life lessons Davis imparted, such as how to give a firm handshake and how to stand out from the crowd. The prickly-turned-warm relationship between these two women unfolds on movie sets, the hospitals where Davis recovers from a stroke, and during a scenic road trip through France. There are also tense episodes surrounding Davis’s relationship with her family, especially her daughter, B.D., who secretly writes a tell-all memoir about mama. This nice-not-nasty book is not going to satisfy fans of TV’s Feud looking for gossip—there is only one real dig at Joan Crawford, Davis’s famous bête noire—but it will appeal to those who want an insider’s view of Davis, even if the focus is mainly on the insider. Agent: Joy Tutela, David Black Literary Agency (Kathryn Sermak); Linda Loewenthal, Loewenthal Company (Danelle Morton). (Sept.)