Fancy Pants is a re-release of one of SEP's earliest novels - though I was cautioned against it, I decided that I'd give it a whirl, as I have enjoyed her more recent works (one of which was reviewed last week or so).
Francesca Day is the spoiled only daughter of Chloe Serritella, an English beauty; her father, American career gambler "Black" Jack Day, died in a car accident on a rainy night. Raised to believe that all she needs to do is bat her eyelashes and the world will meet her every whim, Francesca's childhood is a confection of yachts, pretty frocks, and performing on demand for her mother's wealthy patrons. As she grows older Francesca flirts with men but never delivers, scarred by her rape at the hands of film star Evan Varian. She is, in short, Scarlet O'Hara on a bad day.
Dallas ("Dallie") Beaudine is a professional golfer, haunted by the memories of his abusive father and damaged by the drowning death of his young son. He has great promise, but chokes in every major tournament, taunted by a spectral Jack Nicklaus. Dallie travels America, competing in golf competitions, trying to drink away his demons, accompanied by his caddie and mentor Skeet Cooper.
When Chloe dies, Francesca discovers that their lifestyle was built on credit - she now has nothing but a wardrobe of expensive fripperies, and a group of 'friends' who are now free to express their enmity. Clutching at one last chance at the lifestyle she has been raised to expect as her birthright, Francesca heads to America to feature in a ground-breaking period motion picture by an obscure auteur.
Or, as it turns out, to feature in a soft-porn vampire flick directed by a man with delusions of greatness. Distraught, Francesca storms out of the set and finds herself wandering a dirt road, clad in an overblown corseted costume and heels, all her worldly possessions in an expensive suitcase she drags behind her.
At which point we're only a fifth of the way into Fancy Pants, Dallie's nickname for Francesca.
The rest of the book details how they get together, only to split up Left pregnant (which she keeps a secret from Dallie, who would follow her to the ends of the earth if he knew), Francesca decides to keep the baby, and finally grows up - only to be rewarded for her maturity and tenacity by becoming America's biggest and most loved talk show host.
Will Dallie manage to overcome his self-sabotage and win a major tournament? Will Teddy's parents reunite? Will the secondary romance between Holly Grace (Dallie's ex-wife. and Francesca's best friend) and left-wing revolutionary Gerry Jaffe end happily?
You know they will. This is far less deft that SEP's later works - at points I was torn between wincing at the stereotypes and laughing at the overblown prose. There are too many unnecessary characters, the European settings were unconvincing, and Francesca is way too bratty for sympathy. But I was sucked in to the plot despite myself, and even shed a tear when Teddy and Dallie finally bonded - on the 4th of July, in the security offices of the Statue of Liberty, after Francesca's citizenship ceremony. - Alex
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