Equal parts soap opera, gossip page, sociological study and dating manual, Sex and the City, Candace Bushnell's regular New York Obsever column has attracted a cult following in the US. This collection blazes a trail through a semi-fictional Manhattan, based on lightly-disguised celebrities and media types. Bushnell assembles a cast of freaks and wonders, while remaining faithful to her hard core of friends and fans: those glamorous, rebellious, crazy, single women, too close to 40 who are trying hard not to turn from the Audrey Hepburn of Breakfast at Tiffany's into the Glenn Close of Fatal Attraction and who are still looking for love.