Daisy, 27, got her big break in TV series Cold Feet as Olivia the daughter of David and Rachel played by Robert Bathurst and Helen Baxendale.
She was recently seen in the 2024 storm chase movie Twsiters and starred opposite Gladiator II hunk Paul Mescal in romantic drama Normal People,
The new film takes inspiration from best selling historical book Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem, and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women by Irish professors Elaine Farrell & Leanne McCormick.
POP princess Sabrina Carpenter has the making of a great queen, says a butler who taught her how to behave like a royal.
Grant Harrold gave the US star etiquette lessons before an awards bash.
Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter
Thank you!
Anglophile Sabrina Carpenter in a Union flag dressCredit: InstagramFormer Royal Butler Grant Harrold is now an etiquette coach to the starsCredit: Colin Hattersley / Wigtown Festival CompanyCarpenter and the Dolan twins learn etiquette from royal butler Grant in 2017The lesson was part of a skit for MTV
He said the Espresso singer “rolled her eyes” at the start but was “very natural”.
Footage unearthed by The Sun shows Sabrina, then 18, learning to serve afternoon tea.
She also balanced books on her head to improve posture.
Grant, who worked for the then-Prince Charles from 2007 to 2011, said the stunt ahead of the 2017 MTV Awards was more “Downton Abbey than Mean Girls”.
He added: “She’s very chilled, laid-back and didn’t act like a superstar.
“If we could’ve got her into a tiara, she’d have been up for it. She began eye-rolling at the start. She wasn’t too sure.
“Her curtsy was a bit too theatrical. Perfect for one of her shows, not for meeting the King. But she was very natural. I didn’t have to confiscate anything. She was very good about her phone.
“She could pass at the Palace quite easily.
“I can see her getting along with William and Kate, and the King.
“She’s charming, confident, assertive. She’d make a future great queen. A few etiquette lessons and she’d be there.”
Sabrina was joined by US comedians the Dolan twins at a London hotel — perfecting the skills of pauper-turned-socialite Eliza Doolittle — Audrey Hepburn in 1964 film My Fair Lady.
Now 26, Anglophile Sabrina recorded much of new album Man’s Best Friend in the Cotswolds.
And she posed with a sparkly Union Jack on her tour in March.
Grant said Carpenter could make a great royalCredit: GettyCarpenter and the Dolan twins with Grant during their lessonCredit: Grant HarroldCarpenter was a little sceptical to begin withCredit: MTV TRLShe soon picked things up during the lesson at a posh London hotelCredit: MTV TRLSam Thompson has also been taught by GrantCredit: GettyThompson was told to balance a book on his head to straighten his postureCredit: This Morning / FacebookThe Made in Chelsea Star initially struggled to balance the book on his headCredit: This Morning / FacebookKelly Clarkson was taught how to pour tea correctly by Grant on her talk showCredit: GettyGrant Harrold published a memoir, The Royal Butler, in 2025Credit: Colin Hattersley / Wigtown Festival CompanyGrant and the late Queen Elizabeth IICredit: Press Box PR/Anna PhillipsGrant previously served King Charles and Queen CamillaCredit: Press Box PR/Paul BurnsJerry Springer was another celebrity taught etiquette lessons by Grant HarroldCredit: GettyCarpenter is one of the most high profile singers in the worldCredit: GettyHer training with Grant was early in her careerCredit: GettyAudrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, 1964Credit: AF Archive
1. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown: $28) A lifelong letter writer reckons with a painful past.
2. Brimstone by Callie Hart (Forever: $33) The deluxe limited edition continues the fantasy adventure begun in “Quicksilver.”
3. Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press: $28) A woman reflects on a youthful love triangle and its consequences.
4. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.
5. Queen Esther by John Irving (Simon & Schuster: $30) The novelist revisits his bestselling “The Cider House Rules.”
6. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.
7. Audition by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead Books: $28) An accomplished actor grapples with the varied roles she plays in her personal life.
8. Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press: $30) A private eye in 1932 Milwaukee is hired to find a missing dairy heiress.
9. The Black Wolf by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books: $30) The latest mystery in the Armand Gamache series.
10. Dog Show by Billy Collins, Pamela Sztybel (illustrator) (Random House: $20) The former U.S. poet laureate captures the essence of dogs in a collection of poems that includes watercolor canine portraits.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
1. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking: $35) An exploration of the most infamous stock market crash in history.
2. Bread of Angels by Patti Smith (Random House: $30) A new memoir from the legendary writer and artist.
3. Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (Knopf: $35) A posthumous memoir by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim.
4. Something From Nothing by Alison Roman (Clarkson Potter: $38) More than 100 recipes that make the most of a well-stocked pantry.
5. The Uncool by Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $35) The filmmaker recounts his experiences as a teenage music journalist.
6. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.
7. Always Remember by Charlie Mackesy (Penguin Life: $27) Revisiting the world of “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.”
8. Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday: $35) The author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” tells her story.
9. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Random House: $45) The celebrated chef shares 125 meticulously tested recipes.
10. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can’t control.
…
Paperback fiction
1. On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle (New Directions: $16)
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $22)
3. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Vintage: $19)
4. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
5. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
6. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)
7. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
8. On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Solvej Balle, Barbara J. Haveland (translator) (New Directions: $16)
9. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Harper Perennial: $22)
10. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Vintage: $19)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. Fight Oligarchy by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Crown: $15)
2. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $24)
3. The White Album by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $18)
4. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)
5. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco: $19)
6. The Most Human by Adam Nimoy (Chicago Review Press: $20)
7. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
8. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
9. The Best American Essays 2025 by Jia Tolentino and Kim Dana Kupperman (editors) (Mariner Books: $19)
10. Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (Picador: $19)
That’s the question surrounding Rebel Wilson this week, as she stares down the barrel of yet another legal wrangling — while passionately claiming she’s a “whistleblower” fighting for justice.
Rebel Wilson stares down the barrel of yet another legal wrangling while claiming she’s a ‘whistleblower’ fighting for justiceCredit: GettyThis week, on 60 Minutes Australia, the star broke her silence on the legal battle she is fighting surrounding her feature film directorial debutCredit: 60 MinutesRebel said she had been the target of ‘incessant . . . bullying and harassment’ by the producers of her comedy musical, The DebCredit: Getty
This week, in a bombshell TV interview, the 45-year-old broke her silence on the legal battle she is fighting surrounding her feature film directorial debut.
The star, who was born and raised in Sydney, told 60 MinutesAustralia she had been the target of “incessant . . . bullying and harassment” by the producers of her comedy musical, The Deb.
It comes just 18 months after Rebel accused Sacha Baron Cohen of inappropriate behaviour on the set of another production — which he denies — and eight years after a landmark defamation battle.
Now, with her star showing signs of waning Down Under, have the endless litigations and allegations destroyed Rebel’s career?
In the latest real-life drama, the producers of The Deb — Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden — launched their legal action after Rebel claimed they had embezzled film funds.
She also accused Amanda of sexually harassing lead actress Charlotte MacInnes on set.
Charlotte, who denies she made claims of sexual harassment, is suing Rebel for defamation after the latter implied she had “changed her story” and was backtracking to save her career.
Rebel says the producers’ complaints against her are “an attempt to sling mud at [her] reputation”, and that all the muck and mess surrounding the project has been her “worst nightmare”.
‘Smear campaign’
She is now countersuing the producers, accusing them of financial misdeeds, misconduct and coercion.
She claims she had been subjected to suppressive measures, saying: “They locked me in a room and forced me to sign documents. I was like, ‘This is like the KGB.’ ”
The producers vehemently deny Rebel’s allegations, which she initially highlighted in an Instagram video in July 2024.
In the original clip, Rebel accused them of “bad behaviour”, “embezzling funds” and of perpetrating “inappropriate behaviour towards the lead actress”.
She subsequently claimed it was Amanda Ghost who had taken things too far with Charlotte. Rebel alleged Amanda had “asked [Charlotte] to have a bath and shower with her and it made her feel uncomfortable”.
In an extra layer to the mudslinging, both Charlotte and the producers have also accused Rebel of being behind several websites allegedly created as a smear campaign, which have since been taken down.
What is very clear is that she is not as loved here in recent years as I think she expected to be
Eleanor Sprawson, a journalist based in Australia, on Rebel Wilson
These websites accused Amanda, who is of Indo–Trinidadian heritage, of being akin to “the Indian Ghislaine Maxwell” and referred to her as a “full pimp” who was “procuring young women for the pleasure of the extremely wealthy”.
Rebel has denied any involvement in a smear campaign or the creation of websites against her legal foes, claiming she was heavily involved in getting them removed.
The cases rumble on and Rebel remains undeterred.
Not only does she stand by her story and appears willing to fight to the end, she is also loudly promoting new projects on Instagram and is looking forward to seeing The Deb finally hit screens in Australia in January.
The producers of The Deb are now suing her for defamation, breach of contract and sabotageCredit: instagram/thedebfilmThe 45-year-old Australian actress previously accused Sacha Baron Cohen of inappropriate behaviour on the set of another production, which he deniesCredit: Alamy
Rebel’s history suggests she is not someone to be provoked.
In 2016, Rebel — who found global fame in 2011 comedy Bridesmaids, before her scene-stealing turn as Fat Amy in 2012’s Pitch Perfect — set fire to the media landscape in Australia after launching a legal battle against Bauer Media.
In a landmark defamation case, Rebel sued the publisher over a series of articles published in 2015, that accused her of lying about her age, real name, and details of her upbringing, to advance her career.
Rebel said these stories had painted her as a serial liar and fraud, and had caused her to lose major film roles in Hollywood. She added that they had been perfectly timed to harm her as her career peaked post-Pitch Perfect.
Initially, the judge ruled in her favour, granting her $4.5million (£2.3million) — the largest defamation payout in Australian history — which she vowed to donate to charity and film projects.
But a later appeal saw the damages reduced to $600,000 — and Rebel was also ordered to pay 80 per cent of Bauer’s appeal costs.
While the appeal court upheld the initial verdict, it found the actress had not proved she had lost specific Hollywood roles solely because of the articles written about her. Another appeal followed — this time from Rebel — but the courts didn’t budge on the reduced payout.
Standing outside the High Court of Australia in November 2018, the actress told reporters: “To me, it was never about the money, but about standing up to a bully and I have done that successfully.”
Such a stance — pushing back against oppressors — is what Rebel has always argued she is doing. More so, perhaps, than the average celebrity — because, as time has passed, Rebel has continued to set the cat among the pigeons.
Last year, she hit the headlines again, as she released her autobiography Rebel Rising — taking to Instagram to identify Sacha Baron Cohen as the unnamed “massive a**hole” that a controversial chapter of the book centres on.
The Borat actor had directed and starred opposite Rebel in their 2016 movie Grimsby.
Rebel claimed she had been pressured to perform a “lewd act” that was never in a script.
Reflecting on the filming process, Rebel alleged Sacha made repeated, inappropriate requests to her, like: “Just go naked, it will be funny”.
She said she had felt “bullied, humiliated and compromised”.
‘The boy who cried wolf’
While no legal action was taken by either side, Sacha slammed the claims as “demonstrably false” and argued that all evidence — including film footage, production notes and eyewitness statements — contradicted her account.
The book was published in its entirety in the US, but was partially redacted in the UK and Australia — with any mention of Rebel’s allegations against Sacha blacked out due to the legal risk of defamation.
In March 2024, Rebel railed against her suppressors, writing on social media that she would not be “bullied or silenced by high-priced lawyers or crisis PR managers”.
And now she is doubling down on that promise, thanks to her latest public battle.
So, where does that leave Rebel, who, ten years ago was considered to be one of Hollywood’s funniest women.
Eleanor Sprawson, a journalist based in Australia, where Rebel initially found fame, says the temperature has changed towards the actress in recent years.
Rebel first found global fame in the 2011 comedy BridesmaidsCredit: Getty
“What is very clear is that she is not as loved here in recent years as I think she expected to be,” Eleanor explains.
“She was loved, way back 20 or more years ago when she was in a comedy series called Pizza, and I think people were excited for her when she took off in Hollywood.
“So when she presented a local show called Pooch Perfect, TV executives definitely thought they were on to a huge winner: ‘Local girl turned Hollywood star returning to do humble Australian TV’-type thing.
“But in fact the show bombed — and it bombed literally when people were locked in their houses because of the pandemic, with nothing to do EXCEPT watch TV. I think it proves that Australians have not taken her to their hearts.”
She adds: “She certainly did herself no favours by slagging off that old show Pizza in her memoirs. This show is very fondly remembered about a kind of class of people who don’t get much exposure on Australian TV in general.”
No one in the industry will want to work with her in the future if this behaviour is kept up. They’d be scared of legal issues or defamatory language
PR expert Quincy Dash
Meanwhile, Rebel could be seen as fighting causes that matter. In 2021, she donated $1million to the Australian Theatre for Young People.
She’s certainly combative, but has needed to be. In 2022, she came out as gay by posting an Instagram photo of her and her then girlfriend, now wife, Ramona Agruma.
Rebel revealed she’d had to “rush” her coming out after The Sydney Morning Herald contacted her representatives for comment on the new relationship
The actress also had to face constant scrutiny over her fluctuating weight, which — while she previously said made her the go-to funny girl.
But, as PR expert Quincy Dash tells The Sun, her litigious and provocative behaviour sometimes makes her seem like “the boy who cried wolf”.
He warns that “no one in the industry will want to work with her in the future if this behaviour is kept up. They’d be scared of legal issues or defamatory language.”
As it stands, Rebel is pushing ahead, and will next be seen in the Sky Original festive film Tinsel Town next month.
But as for her once-glistening career, she’s going to have to really ask herself: Does she really have a cause worth fighting for?
The star also hit the headlines when she released her autobiography Rebel RisingCredit: PA
SACRAMENTO — On a recent day at Sacramento native Lecho Lopez’s comic shop in the city, his 5-year-old nephew read his first word aloud: “bad.” It was from a graphic novel.
There was irony in that being his first word, because Lopez credits comic books with many positive things in his life. That is why he supports repealing a city ordinance dating to 1949 that bars the distribution of many comic books to kids and teens. It is not enforced today.
“It’s a silly law,” said Lopez, who has a red-and-black tattoo of the Superman logo on his forearm, in an interview at his store, JLA Comics. “A lot of good things come out of comic books.”
A City Council committee unanimously voted last week to advance the repeal and designate the third week of September as “Sacramento Comic Book Week.” It now heads to the full council for a vote. The ban prohibits distributing comic books prominently featuring an account of crime that show images of illegal acts such as arson, murder or rape to anyone under 18.
In the mid-20th century, as comic books were on the rise, fears spread over their effect on children, with some arguing they could lead to illiteracy or inspire violent crime. The industry decided to regulate itself, and local governments — from Los Angeles County to Lafayette, La. — adopted bans to shield certain comics from young people. While some cities like Sacramento still have those laws on the books, they are rarely if ever enforced.
Now, proponents of repealing the Sacramento law say it is necessary to reflect the value of comics and help protect against a modern wave of book bans.
Local artist pushes for repeal
Comic book author Eben Burgoon, who started a petition to overturn Sacramento’s ban, said that comics “have this really valuable ability to speak truth to power.”
“These antiquated laws kind of set up this jeopardy where bad actors could work hard to make this medium imperiled,” he said at a hearing Tuesday held by the City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee.
Sacramento is a great place to devote a week to celebrating comics, Burgoon said. The city has a “wonderful” comic book community, he said, and hosts CrockerCon, a comics showcase at a local art museum, every year.
Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Assn., said “there is no good reason” to have a ban such as Sacramento’s on the books, saying it “flies in the face of modern 1st Amendment norms.”
The history behind comic book bans
The movement to censor comics decades ago was not an aberration in U.S. history, said Jeff Trexler, interim director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which fights to protect the free speech rights of people who read or make comics.
New York, for example, created a commission in the 1920s dedicated to reviewing films to determine whether they should be licensed for public viewing, based on whether they were “obscene” or “sacrilegious” and could “corrupt morals” or “incite crime,” according to the state archives.
“Every time there’s a new medium or a new way of distributing a medium, there is an outrage and an attempt to suppress it,” Trexler said.
The California Supreme Court ruled in 1959 that a Los Angeles County policy banning the sale of “crime” comic books to minors was unconstitutional because it was too broad. Sacramento’s ban probably doesn’t pass muster for the same reason, Trexler said.
There is not a lot of recent research on whether there is a link between comic books and violent behavior, said Christopher Ferguson, a professor of psychology at Stetson University in Florida. But, he said, similar research into television and video games has not shown a link to “clinically relevant changes in youth aggression or violent behavior.”
Comic-book lovers tout their benefits
Leafing through comics like EC Comics’ “Epitaphs from the Abyss” and DC’s and Marvel’s collaboration “Batman/Deadpool,” Lopez showed an Associated Press reporter images of characters smashing the windshield of a car, smacking someone across the face and attacking Batman using bows and arrows — the kinds of scenes that might be regulated if Sacramento’s ban were enforced.
But comics with plot lines that include violence can contain positive messages, said Benjamin Morse, a media studies lecturer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“Spider-Man is a very mature concept,” said Morse, who became an “X-Men” fan as a kid and worked at Marvel for 10 years. “It’s a kid who’s lost his parents, his uncle dies to violence, and he vows to basically be responsible.”
Lopez’s mother bought him his first comic book, “Ultimate Spider-Man #1,” when he was about 9 years old, he said. But it was “Kingdom Come,” a comic featuring DC’s Justice League, that changed his life at a young age, with its “hyperrealistic” art that looked like nothing he had ever seen before, he said.
He said his interest in comic books helped him avoid getting involved with gangs growing up. They also improved his reading skills as someone with dyslexia.
“The only thing that I was really able to read that helped me absorb the information was comic books, because you had a visual aid to help you explain what was going on in the book,” Lopez said.
And a comic book can offer so much more, Burgoon said at last week’s hearing.
“It makes imaginative thinkers,” he said. “It does not make widespread delinquency. It does not make societal harm.”
In his riveting book “The Insider: Malcolm Cowley and the Triumph of American Literature,” veteran book editor Gerald Howard makes a strong claim for Cowley as a crucial catalyst for the efflorescence of American fiction in the years following World War I. He’s not wrong: Working as a critic, author, essayist and editor, Cowley often provided a lone voice in the wilderness for neglected masters.
As consulting editor for publishing house Viking Press in the ‘40s, Cowley resuscitated William Faulkner’s career at a time when most of his books were out of print. Cowley also ushered in Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel of the Beat Generation, “On the Road,” working for seven years to get it published and finally succeeding in doing so in 1957.
For this week’s newsletter, I spoke with Howard about Faulkner, Kerouac and the death of criticism.
He didn’t have a program or a thesis. He had taste. He was just a pure creature of literature.
— Gerald Howard on Malcolm Cowley, the subject of his new book
You’re reading Book Club
An exclusive look at what we’re reading, book club events and our latest author interviews.
Your book details Cowley’s seven–year odyssey to get Kerouac’s “On the Road” published in 1957 and point out that, contrary to Kerouac’s criticisms regarding the editing, Cowley, in fact, had nothing to do with changes that straightened out his prose.
Cowley took a lot of crap from the Kerouac crowd because Kerouac, in a drunken moment, blamed all his troubles with Viking on Cowley when Cowley was innocent. The Kerouac scholars and biographers don’t quite grasp that a good part of the editing job was assigned to other folks at Viking. They added all those commas in the manuscript that Kerouac was so upset about. Cowley was not an advocate of making big changes to the book; he thought Kerouac’s voice was so vital, so fresh.
Perhaps Cowley’s greatest contribution to 20th century American literature is his rehabilitation of Faulkner’s career at a time when all of his books were out of print. In 1944, he was down and out; six years later, he won the Nobel Prize. Cowley had a lot to do with that.
There was something going on in Europe at the time that was somewhat disconnected from what was going on in the United States. Faulkner’s reputation in France in particular was very high; Andre Gide and Sartre were admirers. But in the United States, Faulkner didn’t sell, he had a very mixed reputation, and he was not well understood. Cowley’s first intention was to write a very long essay about Faulkner’s work, which was serialized in various publications, and then to assemble “The Portable Faulkner” for Viking, which sold well. So the ground was prepared by Cowley.
Critics are “so central to a useful, fruitful culture. I myself don’t particularly care to live in a culture that doesn’t have them,” veteran editor Gerald Howard tells The Times.
(Penguin Random House)
What’s remarkable is the catholicity of Cowley’s taste. He studied Racine at Harvard, but then recognizes the greatness of a disparate group of writers: Faulkner, John Cheever, Kerouac, Ken Kesey, all of whom he shepherds into print.
He didn’t have a program or a thesis. He had taste. He was just a pure creature of literature, immensely versatile and conversant with everything that seemed to matter in the literary universe. Up until the ‘60s, he had his radar up and running. He didn’t believe in a fixed canon.
Cowley was an editor of the New Republic from 1929 to 1944, a small-circulation magazine with outsized influence, featuring critics like Edmund Wilson that generated the cultural conversation. Critics have no such sway anymore. Do you feel there has been something lost from that diminishment of the individual critical voice?
We can let all the online measurements determine the things that people like and allow those things to rise to the surface. But I think the role of the critic is to sort through a vast amount of material to find the things that are really valuable, really interesting. Not just books, of course — also movies, art, music. They’re so central to a useful, fruitful culture. I myself don’t particularly care to live in a culture that doesn’t have them.
Is a maverick editor like Malcolm Cowley possible now?
Probably not. The world that he moved in was a closed world. There wasn’t a lot of room for people who were not white, male and heterosexual. It’s disappointing that he was not more interested in African American literature. He should have been. There are plenty of those people around that he knew. And just appreciating Ralph Ellison was not enough.
(This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
📰 The Week(s) in Books
(Los Angeles Times photo illustration; Cover by Macmillan)
You may have seen the Netflix series about the “OneTaste” sex cult, but that’s not even the half of it, according to Ellen Huet’s book “Empire of Orgasm,” which Julia M. Klein calls a “deeply troubling” narrative of coercion and financial ruin.
Bad Religion guitarist and overall punk legend Brian Baker has a new book of photographs called “The Road,” and Josh Chesler chatted with him about it: “I think I have a knack for being at the right place at the right time.”
Arcana has served the L.A. market for over 40 years, currently occupying space in the Helms Bakery building in Culver City.
(Joshua White)
Given the vicissitudes of the retail book market, it’s a minor miracle that Arcana: Books on the Arts has survived 41 years. Arcana, which since 2012 has occupied space in the Helms Bakery building in Culver City after a long run at the Third Street Promenade, is the best art bookstore in L.A., offering a vast selection spanning photography, painting, fashion, graphic design and much more. I spoke with owner Lee Kaplan about what is hot in his store right now.
Is there any particular kind of book that tends to do well for you?
Perennials tend to be more comprehensive, hardbound volumes of well-known artists such as Edward Ruscha, Andy Warhol, John Baldessari and Jean-Michel Basquiat; photographers Robert Frank, Todd Hido, William Eggleston, Ed Templeton; architects Frank Gehry, Herzog & De Meuron, Johnston Marklee, and Fashion brands like Comme des Garcons, Supreme, Dior, etc. That noted, we sell a lot of inexpensive zines by creators few have heard of, yet.
Arcana has survived a lot of the ups and downs of the retail book business. What do you think is the secret to your longevity?
Moving to a large, beautifully designed space in Culver City’s Helms Bakery in 2012 (after decades on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade) turned out to be a fortunate decision. We have room for scores of thousands of books that we have amassed over the years situated in a lively, artistic and design-conscious neighborhood.
Given the internet, why do people still value looking at art in books?
These are two vastly different experiences, and for me, there is no substitute for holding a book as a tangible, tactile object. Thankfully, there are still many, many visitors daily that seem to feel the same.
1. The Black Wolf by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books: $30) The latest mystery in the Armand Gamache series.
2. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown: $28) A lifelong letter writer reckons with a painful past.
3. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.
4. The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown & Co.: $32) The Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company for its role in a girl’s killing.
5. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness and ancient mythology.
6. Alchemised by SenLinYu (Del Rey: $35) A woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy.
7. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.
8. Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press: $28) A woman reflects on a youthful love triangle and its consequences.
9. Queen Esther by John Irving (Simon & Schuster: $30) The novelist revisits the world of his bestselling “The Cider House Rules.”
10. The Widow by John Grisham (Doubleday: $32) A small-time lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
1. Bread of Angels by Patti Smith (Random House: $30) A new memoir from the legendary writer and artist.
2. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking: $35) An exploration of the most infamous stock market crash in history.
3. Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (Knopf: $35) A posthumous memoir by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim.
4. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.
5. Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday: $35) The author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” tells her story.
6. Always Remember by Charlie Mackesy (Penguin Life: $27) Revisiting the world of “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.”
7. The Uncool by Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $35) The filmmaker recounts his experiences as a teenage music journalist.
8. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, Sawyer Robbins (Hay House: $30) The podcast host explains how to stop wasting energy on things you can’t control.
9. Giving Up Is Unforgivable by Joyce Vance (Dutton: $28) A rallying cry for citizen engagement to preserve American democracy.
10. Notes on Being a Man by Scott Galloway (Simon & Schuster: $29) The NYU professor and podcaster explores what it means to be a man in modern America.
…
Paperback fiction
1. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books: $19)
2. How About Now by Kate Baer (Harper Perennial: $18)
3. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)
4. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $22)
5. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
6. The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (Vintage: $19)
7. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
8. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
9. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Grand Central: $19)
10. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Harper Perennial Modern Classics: $18)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)
2. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
3. Fight Oligarchy by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Crown: $15)
4. How to Know a Person by David Brooks (Random House Trade Paperbacks: $20)
5. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)
6. Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (Picador: $19)
7. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
8. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
9. Signs by Laura Lynne Jackson (Dial Press Trade Paperback: $22)
10. The Best American Essays 2025 by Jia Tolentino and Kim Dana Kupperman (editors) (Mariner Books: $19)
MEGHAN Trainor showed off her dramatic weight loss while stepping out at an event over the weekend.
Fans of the 31-year-old All About That Bass singer were left stunned by her new look, with some even saying how they didn’t recognize her at first.
Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter
Thank you!
Meghan Trainor attended the 2025 Baby2Baby Gala on Saturday nightCredit: GettyShe looked sensational as she appeared at the event in a white gown, though fans were quick to commentCredit: ReutersMeghan was always known for her curvy figureCredit: Getty
Stepping out at the Baby2Baby Gala on Sunday night, the Made You Look hitmaker looked very different.
Transforming into a Disney princess for the event, Meghan wore her blonde locks in an up-do which was reminiscent of Cinderella, along with a stunning white gown.
With a sparkly corset style upper and tulle skirt at the bottom, Meghan looked every bit the princess as she walked the red carpet.
Though she looked amazing, fans thought she looked different from how she is known and remembered.
Reacting to Meghan’s slimmed down look, fans have rushed to Instagram, Reddit and X to share their thoughts.
One person said on social media, “Didn’t even recognize her, she’s all treble now.”
“Literally! My brain refused to accept it, like i can’t believe that’s her,” said another.
“Didn’t even realize that was Meghan until your comment ??????” penned a third.
“This is Meghan Trainor? Omg,” said a fourth.
A fifth added, “Omg that doesn’t look like her at all what.”
MEGHAN’S WEIGHT LOSS
Meghan addressed her weight loss back in March of this year when she told Entertainment Tonight she was “trying all the things” and how “science is the secret” to her slimmed down figure.
“I learned a lot of tricks that I had no idea [about],” the singer told Entertainment Tonight in the spring.
She said, “I was working out so incorrectly for so long. I was running and doing cardio and my body was inflamed, always.”
Meghan showed off her weight loss after confessing to using fat jabs earlier this yearCredit: GettyShe posed with her husband on the red carpetCredit: Getty
Mentioning a “biohack” she went on to say, “So anything that’ll help me age backward, I’m into it.
“I just learned about the NADs [food supplement capsules].] I was like, ‘make me Hailey Bieber, I’ll do it, I’ll take it’.
“I’m trying all the things. I love a doctor explaining stuff to me.”
Then, one month later she confessed to having used fat jabs in her quest to slim down.
She wrote on Instagram at the time, “I’ve worked with a dietitian, made huge lifestyle changes, started exercising with a trainer, and yes, I used science and support (shout out to Mounjaro!) to help me after my 2nd pregnancy.
“And I’m so glad I did because I feel great.”
BOTCHED BOTOX ADMISSION
At the end of 2024, Meghan shared that she had got “too much Botox“, with the botched filler leaving her unable to smile.
She confessed “I need help”, after addressing women in their 30s and urging them to keep listening.”
She added: “I messed up. I’ve had Botox a handful of times … just my forehead.
“Someone convinced me with my little lips that if you did a lip flip, you put filler right above your upper lip, that you could have a beautiful flip on your upper lip.
“And I could have one for the first time in my whole 30 years of living — it was not true.”
On Aug. 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was stabbed 15 times just as he was about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Gravely wounded, Rushdie lost sight in his right eye. The following spring, he published “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” which became a bestseller. His new book, “The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories,” is his first work of fiction since the attack that nearly killed him.
A showcase for his dynamic range, the book careens from social critique to ghost stories and dream-like fables. On a recent Zoom call, the writer discussed the consolations of fiction, Franz Kafka and the moral rot of the gilded class.
You’re reading Book Club
An exclusive look at what we’re reading, book club events and our latest author interviews.
This is the first fiction you’ve written since “Knife.” How did you get that part of your creative brain going again?
I’m so happy to have fiction to talk about again! The attack kind of stopped the fiction juices from flowing. It’s as if my mind wouldn’t look back into the world of the imagination. But the moment I finished “Knife,” even before it came out, I was suddenly thinking about fiction again. It was as if by magic, I had to somehow sweep that subject away — out of the front of my mind, into the back of my mind — in order to let other stuff come in.
So you’re thrilled to be writing fiction again.
Yes. Memoir was never a form that attracted me. I don’t particularly want to write about myself.
Were all the stories in the new book written after the knife attack?
The two stores which bookend the collection were written earlier, although I did revise them. The first story I wrote for the book was “Late,” which is the first ghost story I’ve ever written.
“The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories” by Salman Rushdie.
(Random House)
That is actually astonishing to me. You have had elements of the supernatural and fantasy in your fiction, but not specifically a ghost story?
I’ve had that, but I haven’t had a ghost as a hero. And I must say, it became incredibly enjoyable to write.
I’d always wanted to write something arising out of my time at Cambridge, but I’d never really found a story. Then I had this idea of an encounter between this older academic and this young Indian woman who made friends because of their mutual love of India. When I sat down to write it, I found myself killing him. It took me completely by surprise. And the story became something else entirely.
There is in a few of these stories the character of the old don, the wizened, sage academic. Were these characters based on gray eminences you may have encountered at Cambridge?
I was lucky that my time at King’s College overlapped just a little bit with the great E.M. Forster. He was almost 90 and I was 19, but he was very approachable. He liked students to approach him and have a conversation. He would sometimes come and sit in the student common room with a little glass of beer and a little kind of flat cap. And when he discovered that I had a background in India, he became extra chatty because India had, of course, been unbelievably important to him in his life.
“Oklahoma” is perhaps the most dream-like story in the collection, about a young man searching for an older man, a famous writer, who has disappeared. It’s a dense piece, with a distinct Kafka influence.
There was an extraordinary exhibition at the Morgan Library here in Manhattan, of the manuscripts of Kafka. They had “The Trial,”“The Castle” and “Amerika,” an unfinished novel whose original title was “The Man Who Disappeared.” And that stuck with me. So I found myself writing a story in which Kafka makes a guest appearance, but it’s basically in the end about two men who disappear. “Oklahoma” is taken from “Amerika,” but Kafka never set foot in America, of course. It’s an Oklahoma of the mind and spirit, the place where you find satisfaction and fulfillment.
In “The Musician of Kahani,” about a marriage between a middle-class pianist and wealthy playboy, it feels like you are describing this new class of what you refer to as the “rich-rich,” the new vulgarian wealthy class. In the past, rich people were associated with glamour, but now it feels like a kind of boorish narcissism.
Yes, in the past, there was a kind of Gatsby-level glamour attached to the wealthy. One of the things that used to be the case in India after independence is that Gandhian ideas were very prominent. Indian weddings tended to be quite modest affairs. There was a Gandhian idea that you don’t flaunt your wealth. Well, that’s gone out the window, right? All the Gandhian notions are very much out of favor in India now. This has resulted in fantastically flamboyant weddings. And when you get to this level of the ultra-rich, there is a kind of surrealism on display.
Susan Straight’s new novel “Sacrament,” about a clutch of ICU nurses battling COVID in a San Bernardino hospital, “broadens the reader’s understanding of community beyond flesh-and-blood friends, family and neighbors,” according to Merdith Maran. “The love and care that flow within her community of characters draws the reader into their bright, tight circle, making the characters’ loved ones and troubles feel like the reader’s own.”
Hamilton Cainhas mixed emotions about Zadie Smith’s new collection of essays, “Dead and Alive,” writing that “the book’s finest pieces wrangle, in elegant prose, with humanity’s contradictions,” but “the weaker ones indulge in name-dropping, footnotes and op-ed invective.”
📖 Bookstore Faves
Zibby’s Bookshop is on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.
(Courtesy of Zibby Media)
In the two years since Zibby Owens opened Zibby’s Bookshop, the Santa Monica store has become a vital hub for booklovers on the Westside who are drawn to the quaint, well-curated selection of books and the numerous events that take place throughout the year. I asked Zibby’s store manager Kartina Leno to tell us what book buyers are scooping up.
Our author events are such a place of community and comradeship to our customers. We have anywhere from three to five per week, and they feel like such a safe and welcoming space. We also offer a once-a-month book club that meets in person and also sees a great turnout. We have people who’ve been coming now for almost three years!
Love Actually star Thomas Brodie-Sangster has signed up for Google Pixel’s new festive adCredit: AlamyMartine McCutcheon will star alongside Thomas 22 years after they appeared together in Love ActuallyCredit: Alamy
They filmed the top-secret project in London yesterday afternoon — 22 years after appearing opposite each other in the 2003 hit film.
A source said: “Nothing says Christmas like Love Actually, and so Google Pixel are bringing a sprinkling of it back to insert some nostalgia into the festive period.
“It’s still such a firm favourite with millions of people, so they tapped up Martine and Thomas for the sweet reunion.
“The ad is going to be packed full of throwbacks — especially because Thomas was only 13 when he was in Love Actually.
“A whole street in London was transformed into a winter wonderland and Martine and Thomas were in great spirits.
“They’re really happy with how the ad worked out. It’s going to be one people are talking about for a while.”
If you’ve lived under a rock and have never seen Love Actually, it’s one of Richard Curtis’s best films.
Martine plays hapless PA Natalie, swept off her feet by the Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant.
And Thomas took on the role of sweet, love-stricken Sam, who went all out to impress his teen crush.
Google Pixel isn’t the only brand getting in on the Love Actually nostalgia for their Christmas ad.
Aldi revealed their famous Kevin the Carrot will propose to his sweetheart Katie in their festive offering this year using cue cards — inspired by the scene in the film where Andrew Lincoln’s character Mark professed his love for Juliet, played by Keira Knightley.
Without wanting to be too sentimental, it proves love really is still all around us.
And I’m definitely going to be renting it on Prime Video tonight.
KYLIE MINOGUE used a stocking from the filming of her CBeebies bedtime story last Christmas in the music video for her new festive single Xmas.
The Aussie pop star is celebrating the tenth anniversary of her Christmas album with a new version of the record, Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped), which features four new songs.
Kylie is celebrating the tenth anniversary of her Christmas album with a new version of the recordCredit: Alamy
Speaking to Scott Mills on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show about the video, Kylie said: “Because I was on the road we didn’t get to go so Christmassy.
“I think it was from a CBeebies Christmas story | did and they gave me a Christmas stocking.
“I thought, I have got to take something Christmassy and I think that’s it. That’s the one thing that you may see.
“We didn’t get to do fairy lights. We didn’t get to do paper chains. But in spirit we were very Christmassy.”
JOSH’S TOP DAY WITH SPINAL TAP
JOSH GROBAN was one of a few artists asked to perform with Spinal Tap for their next film, Stonehenge: The Final Finale.
I exclusively revealed the parody band had shot a concert alongside Eric Clapton and Shania Twain at the landmark in August, and now US star Josh has told me all about taking part.
Josh Groban was one of a few artists asked to perform with Spinal Tap for their next film, Stonehenge: The Final FinaleCredit: Getty
He said: “Singing with Spinal Tap at Stonehenge – I don’t care how much you’ve done, that’s an experience for anybody. Eric Clapton felt it, Shania Twain felt it.
“Everybody was going, ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this’. I can’t tell you the song but it was ridiculous and amazing.”
Josh is returning to the UK on April 1 next year for a date at London’s O2 Arena, with tickets on sale tomorrow.
And on November 14 he will drop his next record, Hidden Gems.
The album is a collection of fans’ favourite tracks not available on streaming platforms.
Speaking after an intimate show in London at Union Chapel, Josh says: “These are all songs from my past.
“They’re B-sides and special-editions. I’ve also been working on new music.”
MUMMY’S THE WORD, BRENDAN
BRENDAN FRASER and Rachel Weiz are teaming up again for The Mummy 4, 17 years after the last film in the franchise.
They both starred in 1999’s The Mummy and 2001’s The Mummy Returns, below, but Rachel skipped 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor.
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weiz are teaming up again for The Mummy 4,Credit: Getty
Plans for a fourth film were ditched in 2012 before Tom Cruise tried to reboot the series in 2017 with another movie called The Mummy, but it lost millions at the box office.
The original followed treasure hunter Rick (Brendan), who wakes up an ancient Egyptian priest with special powers.
The latest news comes three years after Brendan’s career comeback in The Whale, which landed him a much-deserved Oscar for Best Actor.
YUNG HIT IN TRANS PIC SHOW
YUNGBLUD has provided the soundtrack for a new photography exhibition that tells the stories of 13 trans people from across the UK.
His song Hello Heaven, Hello will be used on screens at Outernet, right outside Tottenham Court Road Tube Station in central London, for the free exhibition called Trans Is Human from November 17.
Yungblud has provided the soundtrack for a trans photography exhibitionCredit: Getty
Yungblud said: “I’m honoured that Hello Heaven, Hello will be a part of this exhibition.
“Trans Is Human is all about celebrating truth, identity and the beauty of being yourself.
“That’s something I’ve always tried to celebrate in everything I do.”
BABYSHAMBLES have returned with their first song in 12 years, Dandy Hooligan.
The band, fronted by Pete Doherty, dropped the track yesterday ahead of the launch of their comeback tour.
Pete Doherty’s Babyshambles have dropped their first song in 12 yearsCredit: Getty
Pete said: “It’s a well turned-out, elegantly crafted reggae-ska-pop song . . . with a sweet melody to bowl along to with your sharpened walking cane.”
They were back on stage in Hastings last night for a warm-up gig ahead of their tour later this month.
ED’S PERFECT PITCH MEANS ALL KIDS CAN LEARN MUSIC
ED SHEERAN has once again proved he is a voice for good after a successful campaign to give all kids access to creative subjects at school.
Back in March, the Shape Of You singer wrote to No10 urging the government to look at the critical state of music education – and, incredibly, they’ve listened.
Ed Sheeran wrote to Keir Starmer about the critical state of music educationCredit: Splash
Keir Starmer yesterday heralded Ed’s letter, which was backed by stars including Harry Styles, Stormzy and Annie Lennox, as “powerful”, and told him: “I wanted you to know that your voice has been heard.”
In a letter to Ed which has been shared with me, the PM said: “The review places creative subjects firmly at the centre.
“We are revitalising arts education, strengthening music and drama, and launching a new National Centre for Arts And Music Education to support teachers and raise standards.
“We will make sure every child has access to those experiences – from arts and culture to nature and civic engagement – so that creativity isn’t a privilege, but a right.”
It is a huge victory for Ed and the Ed Sheeran Foundation, which has campaigned for accessible, meaningful education for all young people.
In a statement, Ed said: “I set up the Ed Sheeran Foundation because every child deserves to have access to a meaningful music education, and the chance to experience the joy and confidence that musical expression can bring.
“Shortly after setting up my foundation, I wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister about the critical state of music education in the UK and the fact it was slipping through the cracks.
“With the help of the letter and everyone who signed it, I’m happy to say that some of the key points we raised have been recognised by the government, marking the first change to the music curriculum in over ten years.”
All power to you, Ed. This is brilliant news.
COAT AND TAYLS
TAYLOR SWIFT has gone quiet since dropping her album The Life Of A Showgirl last month, but she re-emerged in New York for a night out with Gigi Hadid on Monday.
The singer wrapped up in a coat and knee-high boots alongside the model who is a long-time friend.
Taylor Swift had a night out with Gigi Hadid in New York on MondayCredit: GettyGigi and Taylor Swift are long-time friendsCredit: Getty
I’m sure they had plenty to catch up on, with a wedding to plan for Taylor, while Gigi’s romance with Bradley Cooper seems to be going from strength to strength after two years together.
Perhaps wedding bells will be ringing for her, too, before long.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE has let slip that she’s co-producing a movie with Emma Stone based on Miss Piggy, being written by US comedian Cole Escola.
Asked on the Las Culturistas podcast whether the actresses will also star in the film, she said: “I think so, we have to.”
On working with Emma for the first time, she added: “It’s f***ed up. It’s dark that we haven’t done a movie together.”
CYNTHIA’S IN GOOD MOOD FOR PREMIERE
CYNTHIA ERIVO was grinning from ear to ear at the premiere of Wicked: For Good, despite the fact her co-star Ariana Grande missed the big launch.
The British actress, who returns as Elphaba in the second flick, wore this quirky, tummy-baring outfit and was joined at the event in Sao Paulo by co-star Jonathan Bailey ahead of the London premiere on Monday.
Cynthia Erivo was all smiles at the Wicked: For Good premiere in Sao Paulo, BrazilCredit: GettyCynthia posed with co-star Jonathan BaileyCredit: Getty
Hopefully, Ariana will make it over here after a fault with a plane meant she couldn’t get to Brazil in time for Tuesday’s event.
She apologised on Instagram, but was then subjected to vile abuse.
The novel “Violet Project” aims to test whether success in politics is achieved through ethical values or pragmatic approaches. The project is the product of a philosophical debate between three old friends—idealist academic Dr. Thomas Wan, morally committed businessman John Mendoza, and results-oriented car salesman Christopher Hamilton—who meet after many years at an Orlando restaurant. The tension between Hamilton’s assertion that “in politics, all means are justified” and Mendoza’s belief that “ethical values pay off in the long run” will be tested through an unusual social experiment devised by Wan.
Dr. Wan chooses two of his former students from the University of Central Florida, James Frank and Gary Metros, to implement the project. These two young people are polar opposites in character. Ambitious, unruly, and down-to-earth James Frank is offered a campaign in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where he challenges ethical boundaries. Meanwhile, honest, introverted, and idealistic Gary Metros is asked to run for office in Southaven, Mississippi, adhering to ethical principles. Both accept the offer in exchange for a lucrative salary and a potential $150,000 prize.
James Frank’s Crystal Lake Adventure: The Triumph of Pragmatism
James takes quite ambitious steps as he launches his campaign. First, he brings on former mayor Roy Jimenez, who struggles with alcoholism, as an advisor. Roy’s sordid political experience will prove an invaluable resource for James. With the addition of seasoned strategist Michael Benson, a campaign driven by dirty tactics under the guise of “honesty” despite Crystal Lake’s calm and uneventful demeanor is waged.
James’s team employs various manipulation tactics throughout the election process. After Roy discovers that incumbent mayor George William has a secret relationship with a Ukrainian immigrant and aids illegal immigrants, he blackmails him into withdrawing his candidacy and directing his supporters to James. Furthermore, other independent candidates, Brian Harris and Aaron Rivera, are manipulated with money and personal accounts to James’s advantage, forcing them to withdraw just before the election.
James faces a difficult time in a televised debate due to his inexperience. Despite being outmatched by his rivals (Warren Collins and George William), thanks to the team’s backroom operations, he wins the Crystal Lake mayoral election with 6,179 votes. This victory is presented as proof that pragmatic approaches to politics can work in the short term.
Gary Metros’s Southaven Adventure: Constructive Change with Ethical Values
Gary, however, pursues a completely different strategy. He works with a professional team consisting of sociologist Dr. Lawrence Travis and urban planner Dr. Nelson Vincent. They act in accordance with Travis’s philosophy of “reviving social happiness and unity by creating a common ideal and enemy.”
Gary’s campaign in Southaven quickly evolved into a comprehensive socio-economic development project. First, he took steps to reduce unemployment by establishing a startup center. Then, he strengthened the city’s sense of belonging by establishing the New Southaven sports club and encouraging residents to attend matches frequently. His campaign, which is driven by public engagement, transparency, and positive promises, established him as a trusted leader in the eyes of Southaven voters.
Gary’s uncompromising approach to ethical values led him to achieve long-term and sustainable success, and he won the Southaven mayoral election with 12,127 votes. This victory demonstrates that adhering to ethical values in politics can also lead to success eventually.
Final Meeting and Project Evaluation
After both candidates are successful, they meet with the project’s funders at a luxurious restaurant in Orlando. Dr. Thomas Wan explains the criteria established at the project’s inception: the winner will be the one receiving the most votes and will receive a $150,000 prize.
James Frank is declared the official winner because he received a higher percentage of votes than Gary Metros. This result supports Christopher Hamilton’s thesis that “the end justifies the means.” However, Wan also emphasizes that both young men performed exceptionally well.
The novel’s finale presents a profound moral question. While James’s victory is based on blackmail, manipulation, and dirty tactics, Gary’s victory is based on a model that is sustainable, strengthens society, and leaves a more solid legacy in the long term. “Project Violet” demonstrates that short-term gain in politics can be achieved through pragmatism, but true lasting success and social trust can be built through ethical values.
Both young politicians have begun their new careers, but which of them will truly be considered successful will be revealed later in their political careers. The novel concludes by inviting the reader to consider the true meaning of “winning.”
