Me and Orson Welles

(Paperback)

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Description

An enchanting coming-of-age novel set in 1930s Manhattan and its film industry - now also a major motion picture. Richard is a 17-year-old kid from New Jersey with the gift of the gab and an eye for the ladies. He's bored with school and dreams of making it big in the dazzling world of 1930s Manhattan. Miraculously, he bumps into Orson Welles outside the yet-to-open Mercury Theatre a week before Welles' history-making production of Julius Caesar, and is hired on the spot for a walk-on part. Suddenly Richard finds himself a heady world of high-stakes theatre and highly-strung celebrities, swapping bawdy jokes with Joe 'the Fertilizer' Cotten, sweet-talking the gorgeous production assistant Sonja, attempting to master the ukulele, staying up all night and lying to his mother. But this is the world of the colossally talented, fearsomely charming, ruthless and ambitious Orson Welles, and by the end of the week, Richard must decide if this is really the world where he wants to live.

Reviews

Me and Orson Welles is a charming novel. Its vivid optimism and deep interest in the fledgling stages of love and fame captivate and cheer. So enjoyable and reviving a book should be rationed and savoured over many days -- Susie Boyt * Independent *
Charming romantic ficiton -- Simon Callow * The Times *
One of the best depictions of male adolescent yearning ever to hit the page * Kirkus Reviews *
Sleekly groomed, diverting, unpretentious...Orson Welles bestrides this narrative like a colossus...you feel the horror of a gifted artist metastasizing into that most twisted and unnatural of beings: a Star * Washington Post *
Bright, enthusiastic...entertaining * Publishers Weekly *

Author Bio

Robert Kaplow is a teacher and writer who for over fifteen years has written satirical songs and sketches for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, where he created 'Moe Moskowitz and the Punsters.' His acclaimed young adult novels include Alessandra in Love and Alex Icicle- A Romance in Ten Torrid Chapters. He is also the other author of two literary satires- The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun and Who's Killing the Great Writers of America