Moonflower Books, the award-winning independent publisher, has acquired the debut novel from supermodel and 1960s fashion icon Penelope Tree for publication in May 2024. The book jacket features an original photo taken by David Bailey in the 60s.
Model, writer and activist, Penelope Tree was the ultimate sixties It girl. Born to a Conservative MP and an American socialite, she was discovered at the age of 13 by the photographer Diane Arbus and became an overnight sensation after an appearance at Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball.
A career in modelling followed – as David Bailey’s muse and girlfriend Penelope appeared on the cover of Vogue and travelled around the world. Now a practicing Buddhist and charitable ambassador, Penelope has two adult children and splits her time between Sussex and London. Piece Of My Heart is her first novel.
Penelope Tree:
“Piece of My Heart is a novel about the trouble with appearances. Born into a world of great privilege, my protagonist Ari becomes a top model in the 1960’s and the lover of a well-known photographer. Several years later, extreme circumstances compel her to look for a life that doesn’t depend on wealth, image or the man she loves. I’m thrilled to be publishing my debut novel with Moonflower.”
Vogue cover model, David Bailey muse, and face of the Swinging Sixties, Penelope Tree was discovered at the age of 13. She became one of the leading style icons of the decade. An honest and strikingly moving exploration of what it takes to make it in the fashion scene, Piece Of My Heart is a coming-of-age story peopled with larger than life characters from fashion, high society, and film.
Penelope’s story looks with brutal honesty at issues including eating disorders and unhealthy relationships, as well as the damaging and dizzying impact of sudden fame.
Fame. Money. Beauty. Sex. Love. Ari wants them all. And as the face of the 1960s, they’re hers for the taking. But to find them, she may have to lose herself.
Trapped between the suffocation of English boarding school and a chaotic homelife dominated by her eccentric mother, Ari longs for a different kind of life – one lived in the glamour of London, with the pop stars and fashion icons she adores. It seems impossible until she is discovered by Bill Ramsey – the notorious bad boy photographer of the Swinging Sixties set.
Suddenly, Ari’s life is transformed into a dizzying whirlwind of drugs, photoshoots, and parties, all with the famous Ramsey by her side. The young couple are the darlings of the media. But in the fickle world of fashion, nothing lasts forever – and Ari’s addiction, her eating disorder and her increasingly dysfunctional relationship with Ramsey send her life spinning out of control.
A Vogue cover shoot in Nepal offers Ari a make-or-break chance – not just to revive her ailing career, but to win back Ramsey’s love, the only thing that matters to her. But in the captivating surroundings, Ari finds herself wondering how much more of herself she must lose to keep the things she always thought she wanted.
Piece of my Heart will publish in hardback, ebook, and audiobook in 2024.
