This exciting novel about Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, and Lillian Hellman, author of The Children's Hour, reintroduces their larger-than-life personalities and the vicissitudes of their affair that spanned three decades.
Toperoff reimagines the highs and lows of a fast-living, hard-drinking literary couple and their individual passions, projects, and literary creations. Hammett and Hellman's relationship evolves during major artistic and political epochs—Hollywood's heyday, the New York literary scene, the Spanish Civil War, McCarthyism, and both world wars—and each movement is captured with subjectivity and credible insight.
Populated with writers, drinkers, filmmakers, and revolutionaries, Lillian and Dash chronicles the unusual affair of two prominent and headstrong figures.
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“Toperoff’s speculative novel about the affair between writers Lillian Hellmanand Dashiell Hammett is thoroughly entertaining…The audio version is equallyimpressive, with narrators Mark Bramhall, Lorna Raver, and Bernadette Dunnecomplementing each other and enriching Toperoff's engaging dialogue. Theysucceed by bringing to life the words and personalities of two celebrities whowere known almost as much for their personal lives as they were for theirwriting. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
“Over the years, Toperoff has been a master at blending fact and fiction...and in this book his handling of the Hammett/Hellman relationship and the Hollywood of their time is exemplary and brilliant. He has a great ear for their speech, and Toperoff delivers the historical period with not only credibility, but insight as well. And of course it's a book about writers and writing, and thus the relationships between ego and talent, success and the lure of self-destruction.”
— Stephen Dunn, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in poetry“I have been reading Sam Toperoff’s fiction for decades. He is a wonderful writer, shamefully underappreciated…Fascinating and engrossing, one of those rare books that would help you through an airplane flight without insulting your intelligence. In a word, it’s literature. It also happens to be dark and sexy and, I would think, ripe for the movies.”
— Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner“This is a novel that reimagines their relationship…with a strong dose of Golden Age romanticism.”
— Los Angeles Times“A canny exploration of the long affair between writers Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) and Lillian Hellman (1905-1984), which endured alcoholism, war, and McCarthyism…Toperoff locates the private passions in an intense, public, and ultimately tragic love story without indulging in glitz or melodrama.”
— Kirkus Reviews“Toperoff captures time and place and most importantly two vital people. It is not easy to write about writers, but with energy and wit and skill, Toperoff brings Hellman and Hammett’s talent and pain directly into the present.”
— George Vecsey, former sports columnist, New York TimesBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Sam Toperoff has
authored a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, including Jimmy Dean
Prepares and Queen of Desire, and his stories and articles have
appeared in Atlantic, Harper’s, Granta, New
York Times Magazine, Town & Country, and Sports
Illustrated. He lives in France in a house he built.
Arthur Morey has won three AudioFile Magazine “Best Of” Awards, and his work has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed him as a finalist for two Audie Awards. He has acted in a number of productions, both off Broadway in New York and off Loop in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has won awards for his fiction and drama, worked as an editor with several book publishers, and taught literature and writing at Northwestern University. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.
Lorna Raver, named one of AudioFile magazine’s Best Voices of the Year, has received numerous Audie Award nominations and many AudioFile Earphones Awards. She has appeared on stage in New York, Los Angeles, and regional theaters around the country. Among her many television credits are NYPD Blue, Judging Amy, Boston Legal, ER, and Star Trek. She starred in director Sam Raimi’s film Drag Me to Hell.
Bernadette Dunne is the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Studio Theater in Washington, DC, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center and off Broadway.