Penelope Ashe

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Penelope Ashe, a fictional writer, was credited as authoring the 1969 bestseller Naked Came the Stranger. Later that same year, it was revealed that the book was the brainchild of twenty-four journalists, led by Mike McGrady, who aimed to expose America’s mindlessly vulgar literary culture with a novel deliberately overloaded with sexual content. The novel saw an even bigger rise in popularity once the hoax was revealed. Ashe was portrayed by Billie Young, McGrady’s sister-in-law, for photographs and meetings with publishers.