Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"The final masterpiece by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer....Twain fans, get ready." Huffington Post
Review
"Vividly imagined and detailed epic...How lucky we are to have this rich novel." Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
Review
"This book is good news for Hijuelos fans." Kirkus
Review
"An extraordinary feat of imaginative historical re-creation." Booklist (starred review)
About the Author
Oscar
Hijuelos (1951-2013), was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and
recipient 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.
Lori Hijuelos on PowellsBooks.Blog
Lori Hijuelos on PowellsBooks.Blog
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise is a tour de force by my late husband, Oscar Hijuelos. The novel, at
its core, is about the vanity of fame and the mystery of time. It
showcases... Read More»