A01=William Lindsay Gresham
Age Group_Uncategorized
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Alcoholism psychological
America US USA mafia
Author_William Lindsay Gresham
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Became made into
Carnival fairground cirque style
Category1=Fiction
Category=FBC
Category=FC
Category=FF
Category=FFC
Con man gets conned
Cool 1940s American noir
COP=United Kingdom
Dark crime thriller
Dark noire stories
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
Depression era novel
eq_classics
eq_crime
eq_fiction
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Forgotten literary classics
Gripping historical gangsters
Language_English
Major motion picture
Older 20th twentieth century
PA=Available
Page turner single sitting
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
softlaunch
Stanton Carlisle travelling circus
Supernatural occult
Séance medium psychology
Tie in modern lesser known
Twisty scary horrifying horror
Undiscovered book of the film
Unforgettable memorable
You always meant to read
Nightmare Alley
OUT NOW IN CINEMAS AND NOMINATED FOR FOUR OSCARS
A cool, cruel, rediscovered classic of American noir adapted for cinemas by Guillermo del Toro, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara
'Read and shudder. And relish' Guardian
'A creepy, all-too-harrowing masterpiece' Washington Post
Stanton Carlisle, employed as a carny at a travelling circus watches their freak-show geek - an abject alcoholic, the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s gleeful disgust and derision - and wonders how a man could fall so low. There’s no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him.
Unlike the tragic figure he sees before him, Stan is young, clever and ambitious and quick to learn from the other carnival acts. Initially teaming up with a beautiful but vulnerable woman as part of a double act in which he mesmerises her, Stan soon leaves his circus days behind him, becoming a successful spiritualist who exploits the weak and the wealthy.
But even the very best con-men can meet their match....
With a new introduction from James Smythe, Nightmare Alley is a forgotten classic of Depression-era America: a brilliant, horrifying, compulsive journey into the true darkness of the human mind.
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Product Details
- Weight: 324g
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 09 Dec 2021
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Language: English
- ISBN13: 9781526640864
About William Lindsay Gresham
Nightmare Alley was American writer William Lindsay Gresham's first book, and was a bestseller, subsequently adapted into a film in 1947. The novel was in part inspired by conversations Gresham had with a former sideshow employee whom he befriended while volunteering during the Spanish Civil War.
Gresham followed Nightmare Alley with one further piece of fiction, and three works of non-fiction, but was unable to replicate the success of his debut. Gresham married three times, and his second wife, the poet and novelist Joy Davidman later (on her death bed) became the wife of British author C.S. Lewis. An early adopter of Scientology, which he later denounced, Gresham overcame his alcoholism via Alcoholics Anonymous but struggled with his mental health. Facing a diagnosis of terminal cancer, he committed suicide in 1962. In his pocket were found business cards reading, 'No Address. No Phone. No Business. No Money. Retired.'
