Parallel Lies

"Wealth, celebrity, sexuality and a tangled web of secrets. . . . Oh boy, what a mix. And it works. . . . It was my first introduction to this writer and I'll be coming back for more."—Irish Examiner

"A fine piece of writing . . . a powerful talent . . . a tough, poignant book."—Guardian (UK)

"Highly entertaining . . . offers a salutary corrective to the airbrushed picture presented by the Hollywood publicity machine."—Daily Mail

They say the truth matters. Not in Hollywood, it doesn't. In Hollywood you need to lie because Hollywood doesn't need lesbians. That's the deal, and Yana Ivanova is Hollywood's biggest star. So Yana Ivanova has a boyfriend called Jimmy. And a personal assistant called Penny. But hey, they live in a very glamorous closet.

But then letters start to arrive. From a writer who knows the truth. Yana fears blackmail, but she is terrified of bad publicity. And she clearly has a lot to lose.

And soon there's an accident—or maybe it's murder. Not that it matters—this is Hollywood. And more than anything else, the show must go on. All anyone expects—from other people, and even from themselves—is what Hollywood needs: Parallel Lies.

Stella Duffy is an acclaimed writer of both crime fiction and literary fiction. She has won the Short Story Dagger Award, and she was named Stonewall Writer of the Year in 2008.