Naked Came the Stranger

The hilarious New York Times–bestselling cult classic “of such perfectly realized awfulness that it will suck your soul right out of your brainpan” (The Village Voice).

For talk show host Gillian Blake, the suburbs have long been a paradise. On the radio, she and her husband are Gilly and Billy, local media stars and “New York’s Sweethearts of the Air.” At home they’re the envy of their neighbors. Only in the bedroom is their life less than perfect. When Gillian learns that her husband has a mistress, she takes revenge the only way she can. With each lover she takes, her lust multiplies, until this demure housewife becomes a creature of pure passion. No man on Long Island—be he hippie, mobster, or rabbi—is safe when Gillian goes on the prowl. Written by Newsday columnist Mike McGrady and a couple dozen of his reporter colleagues under the pseudonym Penelope Ashe, Naked Came the Stranger was one of the great literary hoaxes—an attempt to produce the steamiest and most over-the-top novel of all time, good writing be damned. A sensation upon its first release, this tale of Long Island lust remains a wildly amusing parody potboiler.