Jocelyn Guenevere Marchantiere Jones, sometime resident of Scarsdale, educated at Bryn Mawr, has been brought up always to behave like a lady. But what with chiselling divorce lawyers, fraudulent advisors and importunate and oversexed suitors, the patience of even the most impeccable lady might wear thin. Which is why Joy ends up with a pair of matching Purdey shotguns across her knees and a .38 Smith & Wesson under her pillow, waiting for the next lying bastard to cross her threshold. Trigger happy she may be, and no longer quite welcome in polite society, but Joy James, one of J. P. Donleavy's most inspired comic creations, will always follow her South Carolina granny's advice on the matter of clean rest rooms, a preference which had some rather surprising consequences... A hilarious and charming novella from the author of such classics as THE GINGER MAN and A FAIRY TALE OF NEW YORK.