EMILY BEYDA reads from her debut novel THE BODY DOUBLE

The Body Double (Doubleday)

From a refreshingly honest new voice in fiction, Emily Beyda, comes The Body Double. Taking cues from both David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, The Body Double is a cinematic and fabulously plotted noir that follows a young woman plucked from obscurity by a charming stranger to impersonate reclusive starlet, Rosanna Feld. 

At first alluring and exciting, our narrator’s new life as a body double quickly turns sour. Locked up in a small apartment in the hills, she studies footage of Rosanna, eats her favorite foods, wears her clothes, and endures punishing exercises to obtain Rosanna’s “perfect” body. She takes on Rosanna’s public persona and gains entry to her inner circle, but her sense of self deteriorates and doubts start to arise. 

The Body Double is a stunning exploration of fame, beauty, and the hidden cost of keeping up appearances. Equal parts engrossing and unnerving, Beyda’s debut novel offers a sharply observed portrayal of the dark side of Hollywood. Growing up in LA, Beyda worked for the family of a famous Hollywood star and her intimate knowledge of that world informs every detail on the page.

Advanced Praise:

"Emily Beyda's book is so good she doesn't need a blurb from me." 
–Eve Babitz
"A treat... An exploration of women’s identities merging can be fertile ground to play with notions of gender and identity, and never-more-so than in The Body Double."
–CrimeReads
"Well executed... lush and operatic... As she meets her fate with slow-burning horror, the unnamed woman fades like a ghost in a haunted house, its rooms as hollow as the empty promise of stardom. A nightmarish and unsettling story.” 
–Kirkus Reviews

Emily Beyda is a Los Angeles native who for the past three yearshas written the popular "Dear Glutton" advice column in The Austin Chronicle. A graduate of Texas State's M.F.A. program, she currently resides back in L.A, The Body Double is her first novel.