The Memory of All That - Hardcover

Forbes, Bryan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002258323 ISBN 13: 9780002258326

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1999

Synopsis

The price of a soul, or cost of success, for a hero in Hollywood.

Robert Peterson, encouraged by easy words and the success of one novel, is a Hollywood innocent. His first lessons are harsh; pornographic films with a waiter’s job to pay the rent seem the only option. Then he meets a powerful, eccentric British producer who, liking a Svengali role, adds Robert to his stable of wannabes. But there is a price…

Bryan Forbes’ powerful new novel is filled with great characters. The women in Robert’s life include the wholly ambitious, sexy Amanda; the domesticated Tracey with the morals of an alleycat; the beautiful, empty Lauren, whom only the camera defines. And the men who teach him the lessons of life include a knife-throwing English director more histrionic than his stars, the agents, double-dealing in wives and clients, and the fellow script writers with strange secrets.

Who could live in the middle of all this scheming ambition and survive?

About this title

About the Author

Bryan Forbes – actor, script writer, director, novelist, is welcomed back to HarperCollins with this new novel.

From the Back Cover

In the Hollywood of the 1950’s – a period which the author knows intimately from personal experience – the major studios were still very much in control of actors and, directors and writers – and the price of success could be unacceptably high.

Robert Peterson, encouraged by easy promises and the success of one novel, is a Hollywood innocent. His first lessons are harsh, and pornographic films with a waiter’s job to pay the rent seem the only option. But for reasons no-one quite understands at the time, a powerful eccentric British producer suddenly takes him up, and even introduces him to another of his proteges, the enigmatic, tantalising Amanda. And desperate to be a player among the swirling, successful crowd, Robert allows himself to be seduced along the first stages of corruption.

Bryan Forbes’ novel is filled with dramatic incident, authentic Hollywood detail and a great cast of characters: the domesticated girl with the morals of an alleycat; the empty beauty whom only the camera defines: the knife-throwing English director more histrionic than his stars: the agents double-dealing in wives and clients: the fellow script-writers with strange secrets and hidden pasts. Who could live in the middle of all this scheming ambition and survive, intact?

The theme of the novel is the corruption of the innocent , but at its heart is a love story, a comedy of manners with a dark undertone, written with Bryan Forbes’ unique inside knowledge of the film industry.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0002258323
• ISBN 13: 9780002258326
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416