Bunny Lake is Missing (Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp) (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: orange smock, Miss Benton, Miss Lake, Lieutenant Duff (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This latest entry in the acclaimed "Femmes Fatales: Women Writing Pulp" series builds on the spectacular 2003 launch, featured on NPR, The New York Times and more than twenty trade and consumer publications.

Blanche Lake is not like the other mothers who come to collect their children at the local nursery school on New York's Upper East Side. She lives alone, has a job, and has never been married. It's the first day of school when this story begins, and Blanche is eager to see how her daughter, Bunny, has fared away from home. But her expectant waiting becomes a mother's most dreaded nightmare: Bunny never materializes. Neither teachers nor students recall the small girl, and soon Blanche is engaged in a frantic search for any trace of her missing daughter. And the worst part is . . . no one believes her.

In this fraught and at times freakish tale of suspense, Evelyn Piper takes us deep into the psyche of the 1950s to explore American fetishes, fallacies, and fears around motherhood and sexuality. Even the police refuse to help Blanche search for Bunny, lacking evidence of the girl's existence. Emerging from the book's moments of hysteria as a new kind of heroine-the hard-boiled mom-Blanche Lake turns 1950s psychology on its head. Her unbridled, red-blooded instincts win over the psychologist, Dr. Newhouse, and expose the creepiness of anti-sexual social norms. No wonder the film version of Bunny Lake Is Missing was reset in swinging 1960s London. Directed by Otto Preminger and starring Carol Lynley and Laurence Olivier (with music by the Zombies), the film reexamines motherhood and sexuality with a new plot twist that pins the problems on men.

Evelyn Piper was the pseudonym of Merriam Modell (1908-1994). After graduating from Cornell in the late 1920s, Modell worked as a model, as a secretary for a harmonica quartet and lived in Germany for a time. She published short stories in The New Yorker, starting in 1941, and her novels include The Lady and Her Doctor (1956), Hanno's Doll (1961), and The Nanny (1964).

About the Author

Evelyn Piper was the pseudonym of Merriam Modell (1908-1994). Her first stories appeared in The New Yorker in the early 1940s and she published several novels including "The Sound of Years" "My Sister, My Bride", and "The Nanny", which was made into a 1965 horror film starring Bette Davis.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558614745
• ISBN-13: 978-1558614741
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #470,884 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Fast-Paced Thriller, December 24, 2004

By	LaMonte Heflick (Chicago) - See all my reviews

I read this thriller in one setting.
A none-stop romp right to the ending!
Excellent "who-done-it" pulp.
LaMonte Heflick, author Pup Fiction(TM) Books

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, February 25, 2009

By	Cynthia R. (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

The suspence in this book is nerve racking! It keeps you rolling right up to the end. If you like mystery and suspence this is a great book. BUY!

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Dime Novel, February 25, 2005

By	Nelson Aspen "Author/Journalist" (Los Angeles & NYC, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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If you're a fan of the cool Otto Preminger/Carol Lynley film of the 1960s, you will be colossaly disappointed by this literary version on which it was (very loosely!) based. There are virtually no similarities whatsoever. Now that the movie is on DVD, go directly to that and add it to your library.

The novel starts off well, but quickly disintegrated into a convoluted melodrama. It's a shame that the story doesn't live up to the excellent cover art which, ironically, is taken from the far superior film version.

The same author wrote the original book version of the great Bette Davis thriller THE NANNY, but I've learned my lesson and won't bother with reading that one!