Secret Diary of a Call Girl - Anonymous
Bestselling Memoir Now Showtime Original Series
After graduating from college with a degree, Belle, like many twenty somethings, had trouble finding a job. Her impressive degree wasn’t earning her enough to pay her rent each month, or pay for her food. Temp jobs were just temporary and, in most cases, she was simply too lazy to learn the phone system or how to file properly.
An Eye Opening Experience
After a tryst with a very rich and attractive couple, who paid for her expensive dinner and gave her a roll of cash, Belle realizes that she could earn more than anyone she knew by becoming a call girl. She soon re-invents herself as Belle de Jour (named for the Catherine Deneuve movie), signs with an agency, and becomes a London working girl -- and keeps a detailed journal about the experience. She hides her new identity from boyfriends and her family, complicating things when she is on vacation and receives phone calls from her manager about work and subsequently putting her on the outs with the agency.
A London Sensation
Belle’s shockingly explicit and detailed diary soon becomes a sensation in London and throughout the world. Her life is an open book, her entire journey inside the world of high-priced escorts chronicled within the pages, including insights about her job and her clients, her boy friends and boyfriends, and her taboo lifestyle.
Each chapter of the book opens with Belle’s “A to Z of London Sex Work,” complete with definitions. These definitions, such as “A is for Agencies,” “C is for Cash Only,” “J is for Jealousy,” and “L is for Lousy Kissers,” add an interesting element to the diary entries.
A Television Series
A television series loosely based on the British version of the book was broadcast in the United Kingdom as “Secret Diary of a Call Girl.” The first series aired in the fall of 2007, and starred starring Billie Piper as Belle. (Piper is best known for her representation of Rose Tyler, the doctor’s companion in the television series “Doctor Who,” which aired from 2005 to 2006.) It is now being re-broadcast in the United States on Showtime.
About the Author
Belle de Jour is the nom de plume of a London call girl. She is a regular contributor to a number of newspapers and magazines. She lives and works in London.
De Jour, Belle (Anonymous)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Grand Central Publishing, New York, June 18, 2008
