A new literary, historical novel from the popular author of Therapy and Thinks.
The protagonist is the American novelist Henry James, and the focus is on James’s friendship with George Du Maurier, the famous Punch artist and illustrator, and on his literary middle years – the 1880s. Henry is seriously worried by the declining popularity of his books and decides to try his hand as a playwright. At the same time, George Du Maurier diversifies into writing novels. The consequences for both men are surprising, ironic, comic and tragic by turns. As Du Maurier’s Trilby, much to the bewilderment of its author himself, becomes the bestseller of the century, Henry anxiously awaits the first night of his make-or-break play, Guy Domville.
Thronged with vividly drawn characters, Author, Author presents a fascinating panorama of literary and theatrical life in late Victorian England, which in many ways, foreshadowed today’s cultural mix of art, commerce and publicity. But it is essentially a novel about authorship – about the obsessions, hopes, triumphs and disappointments of those who live by the pen.
The protagonist is the American novelist Henry James, and the focus is on James’s friendship with George Du Maurier, the famous Punch artist and illustrator, and on his literary middle years – the 1880s. Henry is seriously worried by the declining popularity of his books and decides to try his hand as a playwright. At the same time, George Du Maurier diversifies into writing novels. The consequences for both men are surprising, ironic, comic and tragic by turns. As Du Maurier’s Trilby, much to the bewilderment of its author himself, becomes the bestseller of the century, Henry anxiously awaits the first night of his make-or-break play, Guy Domville.
Thronged with vividly drawn characters, Author, Author presents a fascinating panorama of literary and theatrical life in late Victorian England, which in many ways, foreshadowed today’s cultural mix of art, commerce and publicity. But it is essentially a novel about authorship – about the obsessions, hopes, triumphs and disappointments of those who live by the pen.
