J. P. Donleavy

Jocelyn Guenevere Marchantiere Jones is an elegant forty-two, living a comfortable life despite being married to a strong, silent man, who is neither strong nor silent, but a bore. One day the bore comes home and announces he's leaving Joy for a bit of "fresh flesh." Joy, ever the lady, divorces in style without groveling or revenge only to find her financial resources quickly dwindling. Alone in her oversized Scarsdale home, depression sets in. Bottle of Polish vodka in hand, she takes a shotgun to the TV, drives her lawnmower round the garden at midnight, and otherwise scandalizes her neighbors. And so she sells her home, moves to a smaller apartment, and settles into a new, frugal lifestyle. However, tighter finances mean she must find thrifty pastimes. Joy couldn't have found a more perfect activity than spending her days exploring the city's fine museums. There is one slight hitch - the facilities of the Met, the Frick, etc., are not up to Joy's standards. Being a lady, Joy always follows one of her grandmother's truisms: "Ladies should only take a pee in clean rest rooms." This leads her into some of Manhattan's most distinguished rest rooms, including one in a funeral home - where she finds her fortunes turned on end.

Cornelius Christian returns to New York where his wife dies and he reluctantly becomes an undertaker's assistant to pay for her burial expenses.

Set in Dublin, Ireland, in the post-war year of 1947, this novel tells the story of a group of college students at Trinity College. Written by Irish-American author J. P. Donleavy (whose own background may have formed the basis for the setting), the novel faced censorship and banning in both Ireland and the United States.

The dramatic story of J.P. Donleavy's personal struggle to publish a book that became a twentieth-century masterpiece.

The New York Times Book Review called The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, J. P. Donleavy's hilarious, bittersweet tale of a lost young man's existential odyssey, "a triumphant piece of writing, achieved with that total authority, total mastery which shows that a fine writer is fully extended...." In the years before and after World War II, Balthazar B is the world's last shy, elegant young man. Born to riches in Paris and raised by his governess, Balthazar is shipped off to a British boarding school, where he meets the noble but naughty Beefy. The duo matriculate to Trinity College, Dublin, where Balthazar reads zoology and Beefy prepares for holy orders, all the while sharing amorous adventures high and low, until their university careers come to an abrupt and decidedly unholy end. Written with trademark bravado and a healthy dose of sincerity, The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B is vintage Donleavy