AENEROUS-HEARTED,SMARTLY COMIC, and wickedly insightful, The Girls Guide to Hunting

and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as

she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition

through the perilous terrain of sex, love, relation-

ships, and the treacherous waters of the workplace.

What is love, she wonders, as she scrutinizes the

wiles and ways of older, possibly wiser women; casts

a questioning eye toward various species of couples;

and holds out hey wrists for a spritz of perfume

from her beautiful boss How do you find it

(and keep it)--and above all, who makes the rules?

IN THE THROES OF A BUDDING ROMANCE, Jane repairs to the self-help shelves to take a sojourn

with authors Bouncy Bonnie and Blown-Dry Faith,

who whisper in her ear and tell her what the rules

are--in their terms. "Wear your hair long... Don t say

7 loveyou first... Don t accept a date less than four days

in advance..." and above all, "Don t be funny!. . .

Men like femininity, " Faith says, crossing her legs.

"Humor isn t feminine . . . "

WHEN SHE IS SWEET OFF HER FEET by an older man and into a Fitzgeraldesque world of

cocktail parties, country houses, and rules-that-

were-made-to-be-broken, Jane learns what it means

when her lover says he wants "to everything" with

her, and the stakes become far too high.

梅莉莎・班剋（Melissa Bank），曾在《芝加哥論壇報》、《西洋鏡雜誌》、《大都市》和《北美文學評論》上發錶過作品，她的短篇小說曾在美國全國公共廣播電颱播齣。1993年，班剋榮獲尼爾森・阿爾格倫短篇小說奬。1999年，梅莉莎・班剋製造瞭美國齣版業的一大新聞。她憑藉講述一位機智敏感的紐約姑娘簡・羅森納爾的一係列情感故事，一舉獲得六位數預付金。這個短篇係列格外走紅，獲得的成績可與海倫・菲爾丁的暢銷書《單身女士日記》媲美，還沒寫完就被好萊塢名牌導演看中瞭，可見班剋是一位深諳都市情文學之道的聖手。《少女漁獵手冊》被《齣版傢周刊》評為1999年最佳圖書，被譯成包括中文在內的二十二種文字。班剋目前與她的拉布拉多愛犬美寶蓮一同住在紐約。