But while Taddeo’s non-fiction felt super-ficial, this fantasy version somehow feels real.

Lennie, Joan’s sad, lecherous landlord, drifts off into nostalgic reveries of 1970s sex parties, the same described by the journalist Guy Talese in his book Thy Neighbour’s Wife, the account of America’s sexual mores which inspired Three Women. There’s modern-day satire (‘Every time we spoke, I pictured her at an outdoor table in the sun, nibbling gravlax’) and over-the-top characters straight out of Raymond Chandler or Billy Wilder. The protagonist’s name is a nod to the Californian writer Joan Didion. The book is an ode to LA both past and present. From Lisa Taddeo, author of the 1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon Three Women, comes an intoxicating (Entertainment Weekly), fearless (Los Angeles Times), and explosive (People) novel about what happens when women are pushed beyond the brink, and what comes after the reckoning (Esquire). I knew that when I met God one day it would go well.’

Even if some lines don’t quite land, enough of Joan’s wisecracks hit the spot, particularly when it comes to sexual politics: ‘The older the man, the more my speciality. L isa Taddeo ’s bestselling debut, Three Women, made headlines as much for its process as its theme Taddeo spent eight years moving around the US, immersing herself in her subjects in pursuit. It was simply women’s pain that manifested as madness.’ Like her character, Taddeo lets loose without emotional or stylistic restraint. Post #MeToo, women are out for revenge: ‘The world had set me up to believe that it was women who went mad. While the subjects of Three Women came across as a little pathetic, our anti-heroine is ready to steal, cheat, kill and joke.

Lisa taddeo animal