Entertainment

New Book From <i>Sex And City</i> Author

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 11, 2000 / 2:28 PM EDT / CBS

Candace Bushnell's New York Observer column, called Sex and the City, not only became a best-selling book, but it was the inspiration for the hit HBO comedy series, which focuses on single women and the dating scene in Manhattan.

Now, Bushnell has a new book out, called Four Blondes, a collection of four stories about four different women who, says the author, "should probably be happier than they are. They're all a bit flawed, and they've all…gotten to where they are by not having exactly the right kind of moral choices. So it's a really, really fun, juicy read. The characters are not perfect, but that's what I love about them."

Here are Bushnell's descriptions of the four stories in the book:

Nice 'n' Easy: "She's a fun girl. She has quite a few boyfriends and, you know, basically she's a 'B' model and uses men for their summer houses."
Highlights (for Adults): "Highlights is someone that wants to be blonde but doesn't want to spend all day in the salon and doesn't want to go to the salon every month. Wants to be blonde but can a little more conservative."
Platinum: "That's an iconic kind of character. In fact, in the story, that character, who is married to a prince, is taken to the salon, and they cut off her hair and bleach it white blonde because they want her to change her image. She's kind of like messing up on the princess front, the worst princess ever."
Single Process: "That's a practical kind of girl, because for single process, you go to the salon once a month. They put the hair color on for half an hour, and you're out of there. And it's not terribly, terribly dramatic. It's practical."

Single Process has some basis in real life, as the main character travels, in search of a husband, to London, where she makes observations about the differences between British and American men.

"I actually was sent to London on an assignment to do a story about English men, and so there are little bits of that story that are true," says Bushnell, 41, who still lives in New York City. "The most remarkable thing was every man said that all the English women were really bad in bed, and the all the women said the English men were bad in bed. I've never been in a country where the opposite sex was so disparaging towards the other."

She tells Early Show Co-Anchor Jane Clayson that her new book is not meant to be a sequel to Sex and the City, the success of which she attributes to how women identify with the main characters, and how men think the program gives them a peek at what women really think and what women really talk about.

Bushnell's alter ego in the program is played by Sarah Jessica Parker. Is that really what she is like?

"Well, it was me. It was me about four years ago," she explains. "I feel like I've grown up a little bit. I've evolved. I do't go out quite as much, and I have a boyfriend."

In addition to her newspaper column, Bushnell has contributed to magazines like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Ladies Home Journal, Self, and Mademoiselle. Bushnell was born and raised in Glastonbury, Conn., and attended Rice University in Houston.