The young Fleur de Leigh has had a privileged background surrounded by the glamour and excitement of Hollywood life. But as she faces adolescence, this independent-minded, savvy girl struggles to find meaning in a world that thrives on artificiality. Wedged between a self-involved, couch-hopping faded B-movie star of a mother and an emotionally aloof father, Fleur must navigate her way out of this world of artifice to track down what really matters. On her quest, she encounters a revolving door of nannies, maids, cooks and character actors. But it is the friendship that develops between her and the gardener Constantine who is burly, worldly and sexually robust, that ultimately steers her away from her parents' superficial lifestyle and towards the pleasures of the natural world. Seen through Fleur's wide-open eyes, and told in her sharp knowing voice, FLEUR DE LEIGH'S LIFE OF CRIME is an on-target depiction of the madcap Hollywood movie colony of the late 1950's.

Diane Leslie's first novel, Fleur de Leigh's Life of Crime, chronicled young Fleur Leigh's glamorous misadventures in 1950s Hollywood. "Très charmant indeed," Entertainment Weekly praised this Library Journal and Los Angeles Times Best Book of 1999. Fleur de Leigh in Exile finds fifteen-year-old Fleur in diminished circumstances. She transferred mid-semester to Tucson's Rancho Cambridge West -- the cheapest boarding school in all the United States -- where frail students convalesce in the arid clime and dine on the mess hall's "adobe melt." "Think of yourself as a conquistador," her B-movie actress mother urges, but Fleur's eyes are widened to the evils of prejudice and the burdens of combating it. After a night of dorm-room high jinks, Fleur and friends band together as the "Four-Letter Four." Sentenced to a civic-minded punishment deep in the desert, the "doomed do-gooders" encounter a grave situation far removed from Fleur's upper-class upbringing. Serious issues abound, but in Diane Leslie's world even the most painful moments are tinged with comedy. Diane Leslie's writing is "enchanting, believable, and wickedly funny" (Denver Post). Witty and fresh, Fleur de Leigh in Exile pits Heartland against Hollywood in a tale whose courageous heroine is as endearing in exile as ever before.

Diane Leslie''s first novel, Fleur de Leigh''s Life of Crime, chronicled young Fleur Leigh''s glamorous misadventures in 1950s Hollywood. "Très charmant indeed," Entertainment Weekly praised this Library Journal and Los Angeles Times Best Book of 1999.Fleur de Leigh in Exile finds fifteen-year-old Fleur in diminished circumstances. She transferred mid-semester to Tucson''s Rancho Cambridge West -- the cheapest boarding school in all the United States -- where frail students convalesce in the arid clime and dine on the mess hall''s "adobe melt." "Think of yourself as a conquistador," her B-movie actress mother urges, but Fleur''s eyes are widened to the evils of prejudice and the burdens of combating it.After a night of dorm-room high jinks, Fleur and friends band together as the "Four-Letter Four." Sentenced to a civic-minded punishment deep in the desert, the "doomed do-gooders" encounter a grave situation far removed from Fleur''s upper-class upbringing. Serious issues abound, but in Diane Leslie''s world even the most painful moments are tinged with comedy.Diane Leslie''s writing is "enchanting, believable, and wickedly funny" (Denver Post). Witty and fresh, Fleur de Leigh in Exile pits Heartland against Hollywood in a tale whose courageous heroine is as endearing in exile as ever before.

The young Fleur de Leigh has had a privileged background surrounded by the glamour and excitement of Hollywood life. But as she faces adolescence, this independent-minded, savvy girl struggles to find meaning in a world that thrives on artificiality. Wedged between a self-involved, couch-hopping faded B-movie star of a mother and an emotionally aloof father, Fleur must navigate her way out of this world of artifice to track down what really matters. On her quest, she encounters a revolving door of nannies, maids, cooks and character actors. But it is the friendship that develops between her and the gardener Constantine who is burly, worldly and sexually robust, that ultimately steers her away from her parents' superficial lifestyle and towards the pleasures of the natural world. Seen through Fleur's wide-open eyes, and told in her sharp knowing voice, FLEUR DE LEIGH'S LIFE OF CRIME is an on-target depiction of the madcap Hollywood movie colony of the late 1950's.

Diane Leslie's first novel, Fleur de Leigh's Life of Crime, chronicled young Fleur Leigh's glamorous misadventures in 1950s Hollywood. "Très charmant indeed," Entertainment Weekly praised this Library Journal and Los Angeles Times Best Book of 1999. Fleur de Leigh in Exile finds fifteen-year-old Fleur in diminished circumstances. She transferred mid-semester to Tucson's Rancho Cambridge West -- the cheapest boarding school in all the United States -- where frail students convalesce in the arid clime and dine on the mess hall's "adobe melt." "Think of yourself as a conquistador," her B-movie actress mother urges, but Fleur's eyes are widened to the evils of prejudice and the burdens of combating it. After a night of dorm-room high jinks, Fleur and friends band together as the "Four-Letter Four." Sentenced to a civic-minded punishment deep in the desert, the "doomed do-gooders" encounter a grave situation far removed from Fleur's upper-class upbringing. Serious issues abound, but in Diane Leslie's world even the most painful moments are tinged with comedy. Diane Leslie's writing is "enchanting, believable, and wickedly funny" (Denver Post). Witty and fresh, Fleur de Leigh in Exile pits Heartland against Hollywood in a tale whose courageous heroine is as endearing in exile as ever before.

Diane Leslie''s first novel, Fleur de Leigh''s Life of Crime, chronicled young Fleur Leigh''s glamorous misadventures in 1950s Hollywood. "Très charmant indeed," Entertainment Weekly praised this Library Journal and Los Angeles Times Best Book of 1999.Fleur de Leigh in Exile finds fifteen-year-old Fleur in diminished circumstances. She transferred mid-semester to Tucson''s Rancho Cambridge West -- the cheapest boarding school in all the United States -- where frail students convalesce in the arid clime and dine on the mess hall''s "adobe melt." "Think of yourself as a conquistador," her B-movie actress mother urges, but Fleur''s eyes are widened to the evils of prejudice and the burdens of combating it.After a night of dorm-room high jinks, Fleur and friends band together as the "Four-Letter Four." Sentenced to a civic-minded punishment deep in the desert, the "doomed do-gooders" encounter a grave situation far removed from Fleur''s upper-class upbringing. Serious issues abound, but in Diane Leslie''s world even the most painful moments are tinged with comedy.Diane Leslie''s writing is "enchanting, believable, and wickedly funny" (Denver Post). Witty and fresh, Fleur de Leigh in Exile pits Heartland against Hollywood in a tale whose courageous heroine is as endearing in exile as ever before.