In the original dustsheet. Navy cloth binding with red gilt title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

In the autumn of 1971, having been thrown out of a rather fancy private school, Sandi Toksvig was sent to the only remaining option – Mamaroneck High School, New York. Sandi was chosen for the lead role in a production of ‘The Skin of our Teeth’ by Thornton Wilder. Three girls were cast in the part of Gladys Antrobus, playing her at different ages of her life, and Sandi was the youngest. This was the beginning of a friendship with a group of females that still influences her to this day. Soon all the girls in the cast and crew were becoming members of The Gladys Society. In the end there were twelve of them.

THE GLADYS SOCIETY records Sandi’s recent travels in America catching up with her eleven fellows. Written at a time when Sandi is questioning the little things in life – like career choices and her national identity – she has some big decisions to make. En route, however, she also has time to explore dog training in New Jersey, the truth of the American Revolution and attend a belly dancing wedding in a shopping mall in Georgia.

Reviews

• Should not be read in public for fear of becoming helpless with laughter and having concerned passers-by call the men in white coats to cart you away. (Books MAGAZINE)

• Touching and funny account of our favourite Great Dane going back to the America of her childhood and searching for its survivors. (Sheridan Morley in The Week)

By turns a memoir, a travel journal and a portrait of American women today, but always acutely observed and very funny, THE GLADYS SOCIETY is also a testimony to the value of friendship.

After leaving Cambridge, Sandi Toksvig went into the theatre as a writer and performer and was a founder member of the Comedy Store Players. Well known for her television and radio work as a presenter, writer and actor, she has written six books for children and two novels.

Sandra Birgitte Toksvig OBE (born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women’s Equality Party in 2015. She has written plays, novels and books for children. In 1994, she came out as a lesbian. Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI in 2016 (series ‘N’), having been a guest a number of times and she spent ten years hosting The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4. From 2017 to 2020 she was co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off, alongside comedian Noel Fielding. In 2020, she stepped down and was replaced by Matt Lucas. Toksvig was the president of the Women of the Year Lunch from 2015 to 2017.