title: The Bag Lady Papers: The Priceless Experience of Losing It All
author:  Alexandra Penney 
description: A victim of Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme, mom and former Self magazine editor-in-chief Penney (How to Make Love to a Man), hyperventilates her way through this intriguing memoir of putting it back together. Finding herself almost entirely without money, Penney faces the unexpected need to retrench with a daunting sense of paranoia; brought up by aloof parents, Penney lived for a long time with a chronic, seemingly irrational fear of becoming a destitute bag lady. As a "Person of Reduced Circumstances", Penney bolsters herself with chin-up wisdom ("unless you've been mummified, you have choices and alternatives") and bravely vows to apply her own nail polish while eulogizing her days as an expensively-dressed editrix at Conde Nast. While she ponders lists labeled "money can still buy" and "money can't buy," a collection of well-heeled and influential friends encourage her with quotes from Emerson, invitations to the Caribbean and tax advice. With considerations like, "Is it worse to have had money and lost it? Or is it worse to never have had money at all?" Penney can be an (admittedly) unsympathetic protagonist, but her struggle is genuine, her charm expansive and surprising, and her strength winning. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: Paper Bag
  
  by
  
  Brian W. Smith
  
  This is a work of fiction, and names, characters, places, and incidents are
  strictly the product of the author’s imagination. Any and all resemblance to
  actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
  
  Copyright © 2020 Brian W. Smith
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
  or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any
  means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without
  the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above
  publisher of this book.
  
  **Chapter 1**
  
  **1983**
  
  **T** ammy Tonti sat with crossed legs and a diary with bedazzled hearts on
  the front cover resting in her lap. The eraser of the pencil she held tapped
  against a bottom lip covered in strawberry flavored balm. Oblivious to the
  damage being done to the eraser, the self-absorbed child struggled to
  prioritize a weeks’ worth of preteen madness.
  
  Her 