No Bed of Her Own

by Val Lewton

Winter 1931. New York is in the grip of the Depression. When Rose Mahoney loses her typing job, the peppy, hardboiled blonde believes she will quickly find another. But soon, meager savings dwindling, she is homeless, cast alone into the underbelly of the cold, dark city . . .Val Lewton is remembered for his magnificent 1940s horror films, most famously Cat People, but before movies, Lewton was a prolific novelist. First published in 1932 and unavailable for over half a century, this racy, fantastically readable pulp-noir offers a strange and vivid snapshot of its era as it follows Roses's attempts to survive a world of despair, decadence, hypocrisy and greed, with only her wits to protect her.Preface by Val E. LewtonAfterward by Damien Love

Genres: Fiction, Noir

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Originally named Vladimir Ivan Leventon, Lewton immigrated with his sister and mother to the United States in 1909. He was raised in Port Chester, New York. He was nephew to the famous actress Alla Nazimova.

He studied journalism at Columbia University and authored eighteen works of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. His 1932 novel No Bed of Her Own was a bestseller and made into the film No Man of Her Own starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard in 1932. Lewton went to work for famed Hollywood producer David O. Selznick in the early 1930s and was involved in many of his most successful and famous works of the period including David Copperfield (1935), A Tale of Two Cities (1935), and, as an uncredited writer, Gone With the Wind (1939).

In 1942 he accepted a position as head of the horror unit at RKO studios. Over the next four years in collaboration with such directors as Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise and Mark Robson he produced some of the most influential horror films of all time including Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man, The Seventh Victim, The Ghost Ship, The Curse of the Cat People, Isle of the Dead, The Body Snatchers, and Bedlam (the last three with Boris Karloff). Lewton, like his famous former boss, was a hands on producer. His influence can be seen in almost every aspect of his films regardless of director. He is perhaps most famous for creating suspense in his films by what is not seen and his use of sound was revolutionary at the time. Val Lewton died of a heart attack in 1951 at the age of 46. A documentary film Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, narrated by admirer Martin Scorsese, premiered on Turner Classic Movies on January 14, 2008.

Reviews

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Val Lewton, the acclaimed and influential horror director, wrote a batch of pulpy novels that are frustratingly out of print. WHYY? Even this one, the only one I could find that was reprinted (in 2006), is out of print AGAIN. Apart from the inherent interest of Lewton's later career, it's a great read. Published in 1932, it's set against the contemporaneous early years of the Great Depression. When lively young Rose loses her stenography job, she assumes she'll be able to easily get another one, only to discover how bad things are really getting. Building a circle of female friends (former co-workers, also now unemployed, taxi dancers, and a single mother among them), and being generally open-minded, she eventually drifts into informal kinds of prostitution. Lewton's style is crisp and incisive, and he's very sympathetic to the characters, never taking a puritanical attitude, and he provides a fascinating street-level picture of low-rent New York in the early '30s. Look for it through your local Interlibrary Loan service!

[Dawn Pisturino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a 1932 noir from famed Hollywood director, Val Lewton, that describes the struggles of a young girl during the Great Depression. Well-written and fast-paced, it's a good read for anyone interested in history.

[Drew German · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book moves quickly and paints a vivid picture of Depression era New York. A well written pulp novel, it’s pretty tame by today’s standards.

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A curio for fans of Val Lewton's films. Story-wise it's plodding reportage.

[L.M. Elm]

The dark side of the Great Depression from a woman's perspective.