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Mr Wilder and Me

Jonathan Coe author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:1st Jul '21

Should be back in stock very soon

Mr Wilder and Me cover

The prize-winning, bestselling author of Middle England turns his gaze to one of cinema's most intriguing figures - famed director of Some Like It Hot, Billy Wilder.

***SOON TO BE A MAJOR FILM***

In the summer of 1977, naïve Calista Frangopoulou sets out to venture into the world. On a Greek island that has been turned into a film set, she finds herself working for Billy Wilder, about whom she knows almost nothing.

While Calista is thrilled with her new adventure, Wilder himself is living with the realisation that his star may be on the wane. Rebuffed by Hollywood, he has financed his film with German money, and when Calista follows him to Munich, she finds herself joining him on a journey of memory into the dark heart of his family history.

At once a tender coming-of-age story and an intimate portrait of a Hollywood icon, Mr Wilder and Me explores the nature of time and fame, of family and the treacherous lure of nostalgia . . .
--

'Utterly charming, deeply poignant and ultimately uplifting' Mail on Sunday

'Sweeps beautifully from Hollywood to Greece and London' FT, Best Books of 2020

'The dialogue's sharp, the comic timing excellent'Sunday Times

Asatisfyingly sweeping novel that still manages to push the form in new directions. As good as anything he's written - a novel to cherish * Observer *
An account of Billy Wilder's later years that sweeps beautifully from Hollywood to Greece and London while all the time reflecting on the horrors of 20th-century Europe * FT, Best Books of 2020 *
This elegiac novella is utterly charming, deeply poignant and ultimately uplifting. And yes, it would make a great film * Mail on Sunday *
An insightful and moving story about how memories can or cannot be passed down through the generations -- Kazuo Ishiguro

ISBN: 9780241989715

Dimensions: 197mm x 129mm x 16mm

Weight: 182g

256 pages