Emma Forrest Books in Order

Teenage Viva Cohen moves through London and Los Angeles with an unconventional circle that includes a beauty queen and an aging rock star. Searching for experience, love, and celebrity, she confronts the gulf between glamorous images and actual people.

Young actress Ruby rejects the beauty and promise others see in her while her life spirals toward self-destruction. Isolated from supporters and haunted by family history, she must find a different way to live before fame and pain consume her.

Naming lipsticks for a New York cosmetics company, Sadie dreams of creating an enduring signature shade. Falling for a graffiti artist brings unexpected competition from his daughter, complicating her search for love beyond the older men she usually chooses.

This collection gathers women’s accounts of the professionals who shape their appearance and self-image. Edited by Emma Forrest, the essays explore intimacy, disappointment, vulnerability, and unexpected friendship in encounters with hairdressers, beauty specialists, and other personal-care experts.

Emma Forrest recounts her struggle with emotional crisis and the psychiatrist who helped her rebuild a life. His unexpected death and the collapse of a consuming relationship force her to confront grief and find a more independent path forward.

After marriage and motherhood lead to a life she can no longer accept, Emma Forrest starts again alone. This memoir explores separation, self-discovery, and the unexpected pleasure of solitude when an anticipated future gives way to a different one.

Restless scholarship student Gail becomes entangled with the wealthy father of a schoolmate. His violent past and anxieties about his daughter complicate their connection, drawing both into consequences neither anticipates as attraction and power begin to overlap.