Alice, the Sausage

Author: Sophie Jabès

Translator: Paul Buck, Catherine Petit   Cover illustration: David Smith  

There is nothing wrong with Alice. She is attractive, even beautiful. All is well. One day she will meet her handsome prince. And then her father announces that as she is no Marilyn Monroe, she 'must be nice to men.' Wounded right to the depths of her being, Alice starts to fill that emptiness with food: calzone and mozzarella, flavoured ice creams and chocolate tarts. Experiencing sex for the first time, she finds the man has left money. Is this what 'being nice' means? Men come and go in her flat in Rome. They bear gifts of food, which she eats as she offers her body and her speciality: 'the ice cream cornet'. Alice grows in size until she cannot move. For Fulvio and Flavio, escapees from the mental hospital, Alice prepares her last meal.