The Novotny Papers

It is almost impossible to summarize the extraordinary life of Mariella Novotny in a few paragraphs. In 1961 she was an underage prostitute engaging in sexual relations with President Kennedy. She was believed to be part of a vice ring set up by an alleged Communist agent who was also a British film producer. FBI officers called their investigation "The Bow-Tie Case." Two years later the "Monroe lookalike" played a major part in the Profumo Affair. She was a close friend of Stephen Ward, another putative whistle-blower who died in suspicious circumstances. In the late 1960s, she gave birth to the child of Eddie Chapman, England’s most successful wartime double agent. Between 1975 and 1978 she worked undercover for Operation Countryman, an investigation into police corruption in the Flying Squad. Her chief target was the author#&39;s grandfather, Charlie Taylor, a London conman who had high-ranking officers in his deep pockets. Mariella brought them all down. Mariella was found dead in her bed in February 1983. She was in the process of writing her memoirs. In the author#&39;s own words, "This is a life that is bigger than the woman who led it. She embodies the emergence of a radical sexual politics."

Lilian Pizzichini#&39;s Dead Men#&39;s Wages won the CWA Gold Dagger for non-fiction, and The Blue Hour: A Life of Jean Rhys, was shortlisted for the Washington Arts prize.