What a strange book. Supposedly a biography about the friendship between Didion and Babitz, it feels more like a vehicle for the author to drive home her own curious conclusions about…well, almost everything. The story centres on the discovery of a box of letters written by Babitz to Didion. They were discovered after Babitz died and were allegedly the basis of a friendship between these two rather extra women, Except they weren’t actually sent and that reveal doesn’t come until well into the story, so the whole preceding narrative is based on a false and misleading premise.

Lili Anolik is the narrator in the audio version I listened to and she delivers the story well. But I’m left with the rather uncomfortable feeling that the whole exercise is rather egotistic. Anolik has titillated with snippets of gossip about both. She declares an undying love for Babitz, to the point of obsessional stalking and the narrative is swayed very much in favour of Babitz and against Didion. It’s, at times, a disturbing insight, but I’m left not knowing what’s true or trustworthy. The prose is so overblown; Anolik is trying to be too clever by half and it diminishes the book and the content. Did I enjoy it? No. I felt like someone spectating something rather unsavoury through a peephole. Some details are best left unsaid and so much is Anolik’s conjecture with no basis in fact. The fact that Dunne, Didion’s husband, went to a gay club and stared at a crotch doesn’t make him gay as she asserts. It’s a weird mish mash of facts about a friendship which I doubt existed. I don’t believe Babitz or Didion woukd have endorsed the content in any way.