Off the King's Road

The city had begun to enter me. It was the ultimate distraction. London was an endless maze of places I could lose myself....Walking, I wanted to live on every gorgeous London street.--from Off the King's Road In an understated, urbane style that recalls such memoirists as Joan Didion and Paula Fox, Phyllis Raphael describes how she landed in London in December 1968 as the restless wife of a Hollywood movie producer. She had brought her three young children from Los Angeles and the plan was to live in London for three months on MGM's dime while her husband was producing a film there. Instead--in a maneuver Raphael wasn't expecting--he left her for an eighteen-year-old actress. And in a decision she could never have predicted, Raphael stayed. In Off the King's Road, Raphael writes of being an exile and an accident victim, an expatriate let loose in a country and in a world that in the turbulent 1960s was becoming expatriated from itself. She arrived in London nave, dependent, and dissatisfied, and left several years later as another person entirely--a woman in command, for better or worse, of her own life. Written with seductive elegance, humor, and sexual candor, Off the King's Road speaks to women of all ages of the possibilities of a life transformed by circumstance.

About the Author :
Phyllis Raphael Phyllis Raphael is a journalist, essayist, and novelist. She is the winner of a PEN award for short fiction, and her stories and essays have appeared in the "Village Voice," the "New York Times," the "International Herald Tribune," and "Vogue." She is an associate professor of Creative Writing at Columbia University. A chapter of "Off the King's Road" appeared in "Harper's" magazine. She lives in New York City.

Review :
Kirkus Reviews Journalist and novelist Raphael chronicles her daunting but ultimately rewarding stint living in London in 1968 as the abandoned wife and mother of three. An elegant, low-keyed memoir of a swinging time. Publishers Weekly Raphael's memoir encompasses her personal journey from early 1960s New York wife and actress to divorcee and single mom in swinging 1968 London....By 1971 she returns to New York a novelist, triumphantly a woman on her own. Raphael ("They Got What They Wanted") offers stylish anecdotes for the historical record. Marie Claire TO SUM UP: Perennial good girl from Brooklyn discovers drugs, sex, and poetry in '60s London after her husband dumps her for an 18-year-old. WHY THIS MEMOIR'S NO SNOOZE: Sure, it has the old "search for self" theme going on, but what a journey! Raphael cavorts with everyone from tripping poets to Marlon Brando. Booklist, Miriam Tuliano ..".immensely appealing." Los Angeles Times "Off the King's Road" is a memoir of a particular time in London: a time of psychiatrists pushing sex with strangers and acid trips, people crashing on your sofa, and children wondering who the adults are and who's in charge. Add the perspective of an entitled, totally dependent girl from Brooklyn via L.A. and you've got Alice through the looking glass.... [Raphael's] decision to stay in London with her children after [her husband] Bob leaves is the first she's made for herself in a long time and a turning point in this fascinating book. Her weeding through London's poseurs and hypochondriacs to find a good man is laugh-aloud funny. She emerges a full-fledged single woman, and the memoir ends with her departure for New York. East Hampton Star In "Off the King's Road," Phyllis Raphael, an associate professor of creative writing at Columbia University and the winner of multiple prizes, takes us around the London of thatt