"And O God there may be few laughs left in me but they're not never ever going to come out unless there is a laugh left in somebody else somewhere and he laughs first."

- J.P. Donleavy from The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms

The first book in what has been said by Donleavy to be a trilogy of stories centered around New York, The Lady Who Like Clean Rest Rooms is perhaps the best-received Donleavy title since The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman, getting mostly good reviews, and selling well over time (as do most of the author's fiction works), well on its way to becoming another of the writer's "eventual best-sellers."

The Lady Who... marks a significant change in author's writing. For the first time, Donleavy, more than a few times criticized for being a "men's writer," has created a female protagonist. His sympathetic and pithy handling of Jocelyn (Joy) Guenevere Marchantiere Jones' struggles confounds those who would simply pigeon hole him as a misogynist. If there's one thing Donleavy has done again and again throughout his remarkably long career it is to defy simple categorization.

The second book in the current New York stories series is Wrong Information is Being Given Out at Princeton.

The third book, "A Letter Marked Personal," is soon to be published.

The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms The Chronicle of One of the Strangest Stories Ever to be Rumored About Around New York

Cloth |Thornwillow Press, 1995 | ISBN (none imprinted in the edition) Limited first edition of 175 hand-numbered copies.

Book made of handmade paper. Black morocco, enclosed in black, felt clamshell slipcase with gold stamped title on the spine of the case as well as on the leather spine of the book. Signed on the front endpaper by Donleavy and back endpaper by illustrator Elliott Banfield. Banfield's site has more information on his work, including images from this book. Thornwillow Link

The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms The Chronicle of One of the Strangest Stories Ever to be Rumored About Around New York

Cloth | Little, Brown & Co./Abacus, London, 1997 - ISBN 0316882526 - 119 pages

First UK trade edition (sans Elliott Banfield illustrations).

To purchase books by J.P. Donleavy, go to the Buyers' Guide.

The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms The Chronicle of One of the Strangest Stories Ever to be Rumored About Around New York

Cloth | A Thomas Dunne Book / St. Martin's Press, New York, 1997 ISBN 0312155638 - 126 pages

First US trade edition (with Elliott Banfield illustrations).

The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms The Chronicle of One of the Strangest Stories Ever to be Rumored About Around New York

Wraps | Little, Brown & Co./Abacus, London, 1997 - ISBN 0316882526 - 119 pages 

First UK paperback edition (sans Elliott Banfield illustrations).

The Lady Who Liked Clean Restrooms The Chronicle of One of the Strangest Stories Ever to be Rumored About Around New York

Wraps | A Thomas Dunne Book, Griffin edition, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1997 | ISBN 0312155638 - 126 pages

First US paperback edition (with Banfield illustrations.)

La dame qui aimait les toilettes propres: chronique d'une des éstranges histoires colportées dans les environs de New York

Cloth | Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1997 - 157 pages

French translation. Cover from Elliott Banfield illustrations (also in US editions).

ha-Geveret she-ahavah bate-shimush nekiyim

Binding? | Bavel, Tel Aviv, 1998

Hebrew translation.

La dame qui aimait les toilettes propres

Wraps | Folio (an imprint of Denoël), Paris, 1998

French translation.

Nuestra Señora De Los Vateres Inmaculados

Cloth | Edhasa, Barcelona, December 1998 - ISBN 8435008630 -143 pages

Spanish translation. Issued without dust jacket.

La dame qui aimait les toilettes propres

Wraps | Folio (an imprint of Denoël), Paris, 1999

2nd Folio printing .

Eine Dame in Nöten

Wraps | Diana (an imprint of Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmgH), Müchen, 1999

German translation. According to sources who know the German language, the title means something like "Woman in Trouble" and is not a literal translation of the original title.

Eine Dame in Nöten

Wraps | Diana-TB, Müchen, 1999

German braille translation.

Naine, kellele meeldisid puhtad tualettruumid: üks kõige kummalisemaid lugusid, mida New Yorgis eales räägitud

Binding? | Raamatukoi, Hotger, 2002

Estonian translation.

Dáma, která měla ráda čisté záchodky

Wraps | Argo, 2003

Czech translation.

Bosnian translation.

damen der holdt af rene toiletter

Cloth | Editio, Denmark, November 2004 | 111 pgs.

Danish translation.

Available from Editio

La dame qui aimait les toilettes propres: chronique d'une des éstranges histoires colportées dans les environs de New York

Cloth | Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 2004 - 158 pages

French translation.

Zonja sqimatare

E-book | Botimet Max, botimemax Books, Albania, 2006 | ISBN 99943-37-27-0

Albanian translation.

Available from Max