Before Elvis There Was Nothing Paperback - 2005

"A wonderful mixture of insecurity and insanity. Every line of Laurie Foos' new novel is suffused with intelligence, wit and daring. Exhilarating!"--Fay Weldon

A fabulist for the twenty-first century, Laurie Foos is back with a whip-smart, refreshingly contemporary take on the nature of beauty, the importance of appearance and the all-too-human cravings for friendship, spiritual fulfillment and love.

A modern-day superwoman, Cass embodies the Elvis adage "Taking Care of Business"--from coping with the disappearance of her Elvis-obsessed parents and caring for her agoraphobic sister to treating the folically-challenged and avoiding the attentions of a perverse podiatrist--until the day a horn sprouts from her forehead. As Cass seeks treatment for her unwelcome appendage, she finds herself in a facility only Dr. Moreau could love. Join the beautiful Cass as she plans her escape and, in the process, resolves her physical and spiritual ailments, discovering more about herself than she ever thought possible.

In a world gone mad, where we're all on display and our obligations and obsessions are magnified by a voyeuristic culture, this feverishly hip, comic caper is the perfect tonic--one that may even answer the burning question that lurks deep in all of our hearts: "Has Elvis really left the building?"

Laurie Foos, lauded as "the unholy love-child of Kafka and Erica Jong," is the author of four previous novels: Ex Utero, Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist, Twinship and Bingo Under The Crucifix. She teaches in the Lesley Seminars in Cambridge and lives just outside of Boston with her husband and her dog, Jesse. Visit her website at www.lauriefoos.com.