Naked Came the Stranger

by Penelope Ashe

In 1969, a group of reporters at Long Island Newsday decided to have some fun. They were appalled at the poor writing in the then-current best-sellers. They decided to have a contest to see who could write on an even lower level of tawdriness.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Erotica, Satire, Sexuality, Novels

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Penelope Ashe is a fictional writer. In 1969, Penelope Ash was credited as the writer of the novel Naked Came the Stranger, which became a bestseller. Later that year, it was revealed that the book was a hoax that was really written by a group of twenty-four journalists led by Mike McGrady. The journalists had the goal of deliberately writing a terrible book that contained a lot of sex in order to show that popular American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. As a bestseller, the hoax was successful, and the novel increased in popularity with the revelation.

Reviews

[Sasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 1969 a group of male journalists perpetrated one of literary history's lamest hoaxes: they wrote a smut book devoid of literary merit, to prove that readers are jackoffs. The book was a bestseller, partly due to the fact that they all announced the hoax pretty quickly.

Legend* has it that head smutwriter Mike McGrady edited many chapters because they were too good, which explains why the book has a uniform tone despite its writing by committee, and also why that tone is so shitty. Each journalist contributed a chapter in which mindless femme fatale Gilly (I hate that name) seduces and destroys a different kind of man: a mobster, a rabbi, her own abortionist, a gay guy.

* Legend = Wikipedia

The variety comes in the targets, not the sex; there is no interesting sex here. Unless you like ice cubes in your butt, which a) you do not, and b) that's the first chapter and it might fool you into thinking the rest of the book is going to be more interesting than it is. It is in fact hella boring. So boring, guys. Some guy is indifferently described; Gilly (still hate that name) seduces him; five or so sentences are given over to describing her ass, which is made of magic; they have sex and the dude's like wow, this is great sex I'm having; something unfortunate happens to the guy. You get the impression that the guys writing the book thought these twist endings were hilarious, but they're not. They're dumb.

I hear this book is out of print, so you probably won't ever run across it. If you do, feel free to read up through the ice cube part; you'll get the idea and it's sortof trashy fun. Probably best to take my word for it and not read past that, unless you like being bored. I'm gonna give it two stars instead of one because this would be a great book to have on your shelves; the title and cover are terrific. Great for owning. Not for reading.

[A B]

I remember finding a copy of "Valley of the Dolls" in my grandparents' house in 6th grade. The cover was a pretty pink and a valley of dolls sounded like a magical place I would want to visit (let's just say I was a late bloomer). I read it, was confused, and showed it to my mom saying "Mom, this isn't about dolls. And the book is really bad." They started paying closer attention to what I read after that.

It also taught me about trash novels, or BM books - Big Money books. Ridiculous plots with bad writing and gratuitous sex that appealed to the masses. The best known ones are Jacqueline Susann, Dan Brown, Judith Krantz, E.L. James, etc. I'd add James Patterson, Stieg Larson, Diana Gabaldon, and 90% of recent YA writers to that mix as well.

My original plan was to amuse myself this April Fool's Day. I was going to add this book and write a fake review, as if I were truly taking it seriously, and then put up some sort of silly gif to reveal that the whole thing was a ruse.


Like this.

Well, that's not going to happen. My prank against myself backfired. Well played, Penelope Ashe.

It's really impossible to rate this book, so there will be no rating. How does one write a serious review about a book that was carefully written to be as awful as possible? Parodies have their merits, but what about a genuine hoax? Writing an honest review would indicate that the reader took it seriously. Yet the book was meant to be taken seriously, up until the point that the publishers revealed it was a joke. Do you give it 5 stars because it succeeded at being awful, or 1 star for just being awful alone? And Goodreads uses a weird ratings scale based on how much a reader liked a book. Do I like the hoax itself? Hell yeah. But giving it an appropriate rating wouldn't be accurate because I didn't like the book itself (quite frankly, no one should). Yet how do I convey that I enjoyed the prank itself? Round and round we go. The prank is still going strong over 45 years later and I fell for it because I took the time to read it. Impressive.

The best part of the book, aside from the dedication, is the publisher's foreword. Can you believe 24 skilled writers took 3 weeks to come up with the title?

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I think the authors succeeded in going to a lower level of tawdriness in this novel. I read this back in 1969 when it first came out and for a 19-year old, it seemed more than risque - very sexy and nasty! Rereading it now, it was just a series of sexual encounters that hammer you one after another. Not very original or sexy. And it is very dated - written during the heyday of hippies and falling out of society - especially the chapter about the homosexual and the attitudes of the time. Anyway, it is definitely a piece out of the past and probably should stay there!

[Snakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I’m guessing when this was written it was supposed to be sexually provocative and culturally shocking. However, it comes across as dated and tame in the present, and the story isn’t interesting enough outside of the “shock factor” to keep it engaging. Moreover the book holds a bunch of dated views pertaining to homosexuality, race, and sexism which again don’t make a progressive statement nor do they shock. Therefore the novel’s just not that good or different and was simply a bestseller based on it’s time of publication. So probably two stars, but I did chuckle here and there. So I’ll do 3.

[M Pod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Offensive, dated, badly written (badly written on purpose is still badly written), but strangely readable. Not as sexually graphic as it purports; this is a series of punchlines.

Naked Came the Stranger is close to being good satire but the group of authors decide that racism, "cow/bitch" wives, and bad metaphors are funnier than an opportunity to poke at assumptions about marriage and relationships. They had a chance to do something clever here and ended up producing little more than an oddity, written from an aggressively male perspective.

[Paul Danyluk · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a curious find at a book sale at The Monkey's Paw (www.monkeyspaw.com). I told myself I'd read whatever I bought. No dust jacket left me with little to go on and, oh my, this was a laughably bad read - as was the point, I suspect. The story, nonsensical. The erotica, uninspiring. The smuttiness, tame.

[bup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderfully silly hoax. I read it, perfectly aware it was a 'fake' book (each chapter written by a different author), and it was a romp. Plus it's short, and there's plenty of sex.

Don't know how it would stick with you if you didn't know ahead of time it was fake.

[Barry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I feel the need to apologize, not sure to whom, for reading this book. It is every bit as awful as you may have heard. I don't recommend anyone read it but if you think you must, consider yourself warned.

[Ken Ronkowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this 1969 book at the library knowing that it is a literary hoax. It's an erotic parody of the American literary culture of the 1960s. A Newsday columnist, Mike McGrady, came up with the idea to write a deliberately terrible book full of sex to prove that crap sells if it has sex in it.

It was written by 24 journalists though the cover said the author was Penelope Ashe. Penelope was portrayed by Billie Young, McGrady's sister-in-law, in photographs and meetings with publishers.

It became a bestseller in 1969, so I guess he proved his point. When the hoax was revealed, the book became even more popular. What does that prove?

The writers were 19 men and 5 women including two Pulitzer Prize winners (Gene Goltz and Robert W. Greene) and journalist Marilyn Berger. Each chapter was written by a different author so the "style" varies. Supposedly, some chapters had to be severely edited because the first draft was "too good."

The plot is about the hosts of a New York City morning radio talk show "The Billy & Gilly Show." Gillian and William Blake seem to be a perfect couple, but Gillian finds out that Billy is having an affair. Her revenge is to cheat on him with a lot of men. The bulk of the book is those sexual adventures that allowed the many authors to have their own "short story."

It's hard to say that I would recommend this book. There are plenty of better books to read, but it is an interesting literary hoax. I did skim some chapters. It succeeds at being amusingly terrible. It falls short on eroticism.

McGrady made a few more bucks off the hoax by writing 'Stranger Than Naked, or How to Write Dirty Books for Fun and Profit' about the hoax the following year.

There was also an "adult" film based on the book also titled 'Naked Came the Stranger.' It was made without any involvement from the book's authors.

[Jenny Schofield · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was *supposed* to be awful, so yep, good job, it really was. Ugh. What a waste of time. If I only could DNF bad books!!!!

[Aimee Massey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, I know the book is a hoax perpetrated on the gullible public in the late 1960's by a group of New York newspaper reporters. In all honesty, the fact that it was written as a joke is the only reason I wanted to read it. I mean, if you want me to read your book, one of the (many) things you could do that will NOT catch my interest is to write, in total earnestness, a book all about a sexually frustrated suburbanite and her many affairs. But if you write such a book in order to make fun of the earnestly-written ones of the same kind, well, you have just improved your chances with me.
Gillian Blake is the female half of "The Billy and Gilly Show," the New York metropolitan area's hottest morning radio program. She and her husband William present themselves as "the sweethearts of the air," interviewing local celebrities and dishing about current issues, and offering their take on modern marital relations. But as the story opens, Gillian has just found out that William is having an affair with a stringy-haired, gap-toothed Vassar graduate named Phyllis, and she wants revenge.
And so it begins. Each reporter has written one chapter, one sordid episode detailing Gillian's quest, first for revenge on her husband, then for her own satisfaction, and finally for the destruction of all the marriages in her cozy Long Island neighborhood. The writing itself is not bad; some editing was clearly done to make sure there was a sense of continuity. But the plot is almost nonexistent, and the descriptions of Gillian's encounters are deliberately and often hilariously untitillating. And each man's eventual downfall is detailed with gleeful relish.
The characters are total stereotypes, including the gay guy who is the last of Gillian's victims; his pink-sweater-and-makeup-wearing, cutesy-talking, shoe-throwing tropiness would get most writers in serious hot water today, and that's not even factoring in his abrupt conversion to straight macho man once Gillian has gotten done with him. But it works perfectly in the context of the bad-on-purpose "Naked Came the Stranger."
There are some truly funny moments here, such as Gillian's seduction of the seemingly strait-laced rabbi who turns out to be a real swinger. He manages to injure himself against a bedpost, is kept waiting at a crucial moment when Gillian takes a lengthy and leisurely phone call from another lover, and finally is attacked and bitten on the rump by the Blakes' dog ... just as Gillian's bridge club arrives at the house, forcing the good rabbi to make a hasty and furtive (and unsatisfied) exit. Of course, Gillian has planned all of this (except perhaps the actual dog bite.)
And lest anyone think that the philandering husbands are going unpunished, "Penelope Ashe" has taken care of that too. Gillian's mobster is so besotted with her that he neglects important mob business and is summarily rubbed out by his boss, who also happens to be his father-in-law, for instance.
I think this book pretty much epitomizes the "guilty pleasure" description.

[Cinco · Rating 2 out of 5]

We were allowed to check books out from the college library at the high school I went to, and this and The Story of O were the ones that someone daring checked out and then passed around to everyone else. Sadly, it was not really that racy or even terribly interesting. Bummer.

[Kristen Mohr · Rating 1 out of 5]

This team of authors set out to purposely write dreck and they managed it.

[Mark Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great book. I think I only read it because I recently read an article about books that are hoaxes. I wouldn't call it a hoax, just mediocre writing.

[Dominic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a ridiculous thing that I'm glad I read. Hilariously bad and engaging at the same time.

[Scott Benowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant satire !!!
At some point during the second half of the 1960's, a number of the staff writers who were writing for the New York daily newspaper Newsday had noticed that in their opinions, the books which were being listed on the bestseller lists which were compiled from the sales records at bookstores throughout the mid 1960's were becoming increasingly trite and unsophisticated. And so, in 1968, a group of 24 Newsday staff writers decided to conduct an experiment. A group of Newsday writers decided to see if they were to write a book which has ZERO (0) literary value, but does include sex scenes in every chapter, would this book make the bestseller lists in 1969?
And, a group of 24 Newsday writers co-authored a book which is filled with inconsistencies which are so noticeable and obvious, one would ordinarily wonder why the administrators who work at a publishing company would have ever even allowed for a book to be printed without reworking and rewording the inconsistencies. The 24 Newsday writers co-authored "Naked Came The Stranger" under the penname "Penelope Ashe," and the staff who were working at the publishing company which had originally published this book were in on the hoax. The humor in this book is only funny if prior to reading this, you know that it was written as a hoax and that the people who were working at the publishing company knew this, which explains why they'd chosen to print a book which was so sloppily written.
Each of the writers who had comprised the "Penelope Ashe" team wrote a separate short story, and then they merged the short stories which they had written independent of each other into the full length book which became "Naked Came The Stranger". Because each of the chapters in this book were written by different people, we see a wide variety of wording styles in each of the chapters of this book. Ordinarily, if the wording styles change vastly between each of the chapters of a book, most readers would decide that the book is awful, and most people, or at least most people who comprehend what graceful writing is would stop reading a book which is so sloppily written at the half way point. However, in this particular case, it's the inconsistencies and the sloppy writing which makes the book so funny- assuming that you know who the 26 Newsday writers who comprised "Penelope Ashe" were and that you know the reasons that they wrote this book.
And yes, "Naked Came The Stranger" did make the bestseller lists in the U.S. in 1969. Some of the writers who had comprised "Penelope Ashe" revealed the hoax on an Episode of The David Frost Show in 1969 (David Frost was a famous panelist and interviewer who had been on a number of television shows from the 1960's through the 2000's).
If you enjoy reading "Naked Came The Stranger," some of the writers who had comprised the "Penelope Ashe" team wrote a sequel to this book which they'd entitled "Stranger Than Naked: Or How To Write Dirty Books For Fun And Profit" in which they explained the process by which they'd written "Naked Came The Stranger". "Stranger Than Naked" was published in 1970.
Lastly, I should point out here that I was born in the 1970's, so I obviously don't have any personal experiences with contemporary fiction from the 1960's- you don't need to have witnessed the 1960's personally to appreciate the humor and the satire in this book.

[Andrea]

I mean yeah, this book was written by a group of men who were like "I wonder if we can write this smutty thriller novel and get it to sell." where it was deliberately meant to be bad with all of these loaded sentences that were often just semantically nonsense and made zero sense. Sort of thing nowadays that produces the writing style of what's now known as "She boobily walked down the hallway, breasts enigmatically spewing out of her boob dress." sort of men writing women style of writing. Breasts are just these things that are independent from any sort of laws of physics and are sentient beings that can move around on their own, is what I kind of get from this book. Penelope Ashe was, of course, not a real person but a pseudonym for these men, and I suppose this sort of is interesting for the fact that it sold as a serious novel in 1969 and then later was revealed as being a hoax, and then later in 1975, it was adapted into a porn film by Radley Metzger, who did bisexual-oriented porn films such as Score (1974) and The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976).

As a whole this was like, eh, I read it basically because I was interested in deliberately poorly written pieces of work. This kind of runs its mileage pretty far into it, but it's both one of those things where it's definitely of its time and does kind of reflect some of these underlyingly self-conscious feelings just imagining people snickering like "Hehe, imagine what I can write here." sort of thing, but also where it's quite disinhibited and nonsensical in terms of its prose.

"More and more people were going gay these days. Maybe some day they would outnumber the straights. Then heterosexuality would be the deviation."

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realize that this book was originally published in 1969 and I read it in 2025 so it is tame by today’s standards. But, this book is tame compared to Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins. It’s tame compared to Robert Rimmer’s The Harrad Experiment and Proposition 31. I get it that this was a literary hoax poking fun at the idea that books had reached a nadir and Mike McGrady et al. wanted to prove a point by writing an intentionally bad book. In that regard, they succeeded. Mike McGrady’s prologue is the best thing about it. The book is at times boring, tedious and mean spirited. And, contrary to what McGrady says, it is not sexually explicit. The aforementioned books have more sex than any chapter in this book. In a nutshell, Gillian Blake finds out her husband is having an affair with their new Production Assistant and she sets out to have revenge affairs. Gillian Blake is not likeable and is not a nice person and several of her conquests come to a bad end. She comes off, at least to me, as a sociopath. The book abruptly ends with no real resolution to the story. The only reason the book was a huge success was because the authors announced that it was a hoax and sales skyrocketed, putting it on the best seller list for 13 weeks. They pranked the public and laughed all the way to the bank.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to get naked... and I wanted a stranger ~ oh please, don’t judge me!

Oh yeah... it was one of those.

𝔹𝕌𝕋 𝕄𝔸𝕐𝔹𝔼...
My expectations with that title and the premise of the book, were a little too high as a reader in 2020 “of such perfectly realized awfulness that it will suck your soul right out of your brainpan” (The Village Voice).

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 ~ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠

When Sue @soobooksalot mentioned this book, I jumped at it. I have to say, as f*#ked up as this year was, 𝕋ℍ𝕀𝕊 𝔹𝕆𝕆𝕂 was the perfect ending to bring it to a close.

Want steamy? Not so much
Want fabulous writing?? Nope
Want a great story? Not even this
Want to just end 2020? Perfection!!!
🤣 all tongue-in-cheek fun, it wasn’t that bad... but it wasn’t that good either 💁🏻‍♀️ #truth 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠

I’m glad I read it for what it was and even more glad that Sue gave the the “OK” to skim through #SlowReader 🙋🏻‍♀️

𝔹𝕌𝔻𝔻𝕐 ℝ𝔼𝔸𝔻𝕊 - whether great literary classics or great literary hoaxes - are always so damn fun, and I’m so glad we did this one!

Cheers Sue... and asta la vista 2020
‘ya filthy animal

#nakedcamethestranger #literaryhoax
#og🇨🇦bookenablers #🇨🇦bookenablers
#WINEnot #dirty #smut

[C.B. Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newer editions of the novel have a forward by the main author Mike McGrady when he describes how him and a series of other writers came about making this.
Cliff note version is that they didn’t like Valley of the Dolls and other novels at the time that were effectively, smut. Lots of sex and little character. Ironically, valley isn’t like that but that’s a whole other thing.

The book itself...bad but that forward is worth a read, McGrady talks about the brainstorming process, whom to add in the roster of men the main character sleeps with, how much or how little violence and sex to add and what kind of writing style would the authors emulate.

And it worked, the hoax worked, then they revealed it after the movie rights were sold (as a porno appropriately) and it sold more.
I don’t recommend this book unless you want to see what grandma was reading back in 1969. The movie too, not good but I did talk about (in a SFW style)
here: Naked Came the Stranger-Taking a Page https://youtu.be/TH5a636EWQw

[Daan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know where to begin, yes I read about why it was written, but wow it is unlike Atlanta Nights really really bad. And not in a fun way.
Yet being what it is I can respect that.
One can easily feel that it is written by journalists and not by actual writers. Hey, some journalist are also good fiction writers but many are not and this book shows that. It is tough an interesting book to own and have read.
Its, boring, really boring, really factual boring flat written. So unlike Atlanta Nights where I have to laugh because how insane that is. This just exist.
3 of 5? I won't give it a 1 because it has value, it has proven its point. Bad sex sells, I bought this book and so did many others. But I can't give it a 5 either because, it isn't Atlanta Nights.

Do I suggest you read it? Well, do you like artificts? Do you like books that have a hidden message? Do you like? Odd things? You might want to buy this.
If you just want to laugh out loud buy Atlanta Nights by Travis Tea.

[Elspeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting set of collected short stories. A group of journalists decided to make their own ridiculous contemporary story and so each wrote a chapter about a different man that the main character, Gillian, scoped out, slept with, and often ruined.

Gillian and her husband do a morning radio show ostensibly about how great their marriage is. Meanwhile William/Billy is having affairs. Instead of confronting him, divorcing him, or something where he has any accountability, Gillian decides to seduce all the (married) men in their NYC suburb.

The stories are all interesting, some sadder than others, but overall I enjoyed the different characters that Gillian came into contact with. It's definitely misogynistic especially in the current time period, but I am also interested in "alternative" stories and collections of stories. If the stories weren't connected or were essentially parodies I probably wouldn't have liked them as much.

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed the non-fiction book about the writing and reception of this book, and one day, thought I, I would very much enjoy finally reading this book. But I didn't, and I didn't get far. It is, as they set out to create, a not-very-good book. After satisfying myself that it wasn't going to be a fun guilty pleasure (e.g. Peyton Place or Hotel) and was, after all, a dreary badly-written tome (e.g. The Adventurers or Lucky Bitches) I gave it up. At least I tried.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

[Gerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Spoof.

In 1969, a group of reporters at Long Island Newsday decided to have some fun. They were appalled at the poor writing in the then-current best-sellers. They decided to have a contest to see who could write on an even lower level of tawdriness.

Penelope Ash was credited as the writer of the novel Naked Came the Stranger, which became a bestseller. Later that year, it was revealed that the book was a hoax that was really written by a group of twenty-four journalists led by Mike McGrady. The journalists had the goal of deliberately writing a terrible book that contained a lot of sex to show that popular American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. As a bestseller, the hoax was successful, and the novel increased in popularity with the revelation.

Very entertaining, a great read, and a funny jab at the potboiler sex novels that were all around at that time.

[Darlene Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast Read But Not My Thing

This is a book from a time when it may have been shocking or interesting but I his is no Lolita or O or The Delta of Venus. This is a bored housewife/celebrity ruining marriages and men dying as a result of her toying with them for her enjoyment. She wants a challenge and bulldozes everyone in her path. I don’t like Gilly, I don’t like Bill and I don’t like their neighbors. I suppose I’m not supposed to like these people but the writing is thin compared to the novels I mentioned and the characters are thin. This could have been a better developed book if the writer character had been woven into the book instead of being left as a dead fish footnote at the end.

[Rachel C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was recently told about this literary hoax, and was interested to read it. It reads much like a 'Carry On' movie, and is clearly ridiculous. However I think it could be interpreted as a man-bashing, liberal woman empowerment novel, as all the men are so easily manipulated and despite being repetitive, there is a central plot theme of Gilly overpowering all men and causing their downfall. This point may simply serve to prove that all literature means different things to the reader despite the author intentions. It is also a sign of the times that initially (before I realised how ridiculous the lewd encounters were to become) I was mainly worried for Gilly's safety, thinking she was sure to be murdered by one of her trifled lovers or her clueless husband.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After years of groaning and head-slapping my way through this century's most popular best-sellers, appalled at the ridiculously inept writing, Naked Came the Stranger was the perfect antidote to my literary distress. Written by 24 journalists, this parody of crappy writers was a bestseller in 1969 and went on to even greater success when their hoax was revealed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_C...

[Mean Book Club · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. We have to admit, the authors did what they set out to do. They sold a book to the masses just by throwing in a lot of sex. Mostly, we are mad that we weren't alive to think of doing this first. WE WILL do this. And do it even better (worse?) than they did.

Listen to our cool episode of MBC here or wherever you pod: https://www.spreaker.com/user/meanboo...

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes this book a "must read" is that it was originally written to see how how bad a book could be, and still sell well! It was a hoax, designed by a group of people who wanted to see if they could write the worst sex novel of all time, and it worked!


https://johnrieber.com/2019/01/16/boa...

[Mary Ann Morning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suburban romp

Funny,satirical sendup of sex stories? You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. No. You’ ll just laugh. Follow Mrs. Blake through the neighborhood as she spreads sex and ruination . Innocently malevolent, she checks off her list of horny suburbanites all of whom are visited by instant karma. Even in the suburbs,if you play, you pay.