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by Oscar Hijuelos
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.
"Starred Review. Vividly imagined and detailed epic...How lucky we are to have this rich novel." - Publisher's Weekly
"Starred Review. An extraordinary feat of imaginative historical re-creation." - Booklist
"This book is good news for Hijuelos fans, but considering its flaws, it's tantalizing to think of what it would have been like if the author had managed to finish it himself." - Kirkus
"The final masterpiece by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer....Twain fans, get ready." - Huffington Post
"Oscar Hijuelos, who left us suddenly and far too soon, has been deeply missed by those of us who were his friends - missed both as a friend and as a writer. The friend will not be coming back, but what a miracle that he has given us this last novel - which is a fine and wonderful novel, and surely among the best books Oscar ever wrote." - Paul Auster
"The great Oscar Hijuelos lives on in this ambitious, fascinating, and richly detailed work that, like the author, is in a class by itself." - Gay Talese
"Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise is a natural and delightful extension of Hijuelos' work, and like his earlier books, this one is distinguished by vitality so intense as to give the reader a charge just picking up the book... a voice that is haunting and mesmerizing, and a story that shows just how fantastic and enjoyable Oscar Hijuelos' imagination really was." - Craig Nova, author of The Good Son
"Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise is a marvelous blend of research and the imagination, resurrecting two fascinating contemporaries - Mark Twain and Henry Morton Stanley - and lending a bygone era the shimmer of here and now." - Marie Arana, author of American Chica, Cellophane, and Bolívar: American Liberator.
This information about Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Oscar Hijuelos (1951-2013), was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and receipient of the Rome Prize. He also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. His nine novels have been translated into more than 30 languages.
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