BOOK OF THE MONTH: TWAIN & STANLEY ENTER PARADISE BY OSCAR HIJUELOS
Las Comadres &
Friends National Book Club is pleased to announce its Book of the Month for
March 2016 – TWAIN & STANLEY ENTER PARADISE by the late Oscar Hijuelos.
We invite all readers
to join us this month as we read this epic novel, and join us on Monday, March
28, for our teleconference with the author’s widow. Register free for the teleconference at www.latinolit.com. (First 10 registrants
get a free book; register early!)
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| Grand Central Publishing |
BOOK SUMMARY: TWAIN & STANLEY ENTER PARADISE, by
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos, is a luminous work of fiction
inspired by the real-life, 37-year friendship between two towering figures of
the late nineteenth century, famed writer and humorist Mark Twain and legendary
explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley.
Hijuelos was
fascinated by the Twain-Stanley connection and eventually began researching and
writing a novel that used the scant historical record of their relationship as
a starting point for a more detailed fictional account. It was a labor of love
for Hijuelos, who worked on the project for more than ten years, publishing
other novels along the way but always returning to Twain and Stanley; indeed,
he was still revising the manuscript the day before his sudden passing in 2013.
The resulting novel is
a richly woven tapestry of people and events that is unique among the author's
works, both in theme and structure. Hijuelos ingeniously blends correspondence,
memoir, and third-person omniscience to explore the intersection of these
Victorian giants in a long vanished world.
From their early days
as journalists in the American West, to their admiration and support of each
other's writing, their mutual hatred of slavery, their social life together in
the dazzling literary circles of the period, and even a mysterious journey to
Cuba to search for Stanley's adoptive father, TWAIN & STANLEY ENTER
PARADISE superbly channels two vibrant but very different figures. It is also a
study of Twain's complex bond with Mrs. Stanley, the bohemian portrait artist
Dorothy Tennant, who introduces Twain and his wife to the world of séances and
mediums after the tragic death of their daughter.
A compelling and
deeply felt historical fantasia that utilizes the full range of Hijuelos'
gifts, TWAIN & STANLEY ENTER PARADISE stands as an unforgettable coda to a
brilliant writing career.
To join the Las Comadres & Friends
National Book Club near you – or to start your own! – visit us at www.latinolit.com.
READ LATINO LIT
NOTE: TWAIN & STANLEY ENTER PARADISE by Oscar Hijuelos is part of Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club's 2016 Spring Break Reading List. Watch for the announcement on March 10, 2016, at www.latinolit.com and www.readlatinolit.blogspot.com.
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