Ex-wife (1929)

Published anonymously in 1929, Parrott’s bestseller returned in McNally Editions’ 2023 reissue. A divorce and its aftermath expose the practical costs beneath Jazz Age freedom: earning, drinking, friendship and the terms men offer women. Its dry, quick intelligence makes the revival more than a period curiosity. Some sexual attitudes are punishing, which is part of the world the novel records rather than a promise of easy liberation.