"An irresistible story of 1950s Hollywood featuring a restless ingénue who befriends a blacklisted screenwriter... Readers will be riveted." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Typewriter Beach
Set in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Hollywood Meg Waite Clayton's new novel, Typewriter Beach, is an unforgettable story of the unlikely friendship between an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a young actress hoping to be Alfred Hitchcock's new star.
1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard seven-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a tiny Carmel cottage, waiting and dreading.
Meanwhile, next door, Léon Chazan is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. Soon, they’re together in his roadster, speeding down the fog-shrouded Big Sur coast.
2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe full of secrets—raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was, and whether she can live up to his name.
In graceful prose and with an intimate understanding of human nature, Meg Waite Clayton captures the joys and frustrations of being a writer, being a woman, being a star, and being in love. Typewriter Beach is the story of two women separated by generations—a tale of ideas and ideals, passion and persistence, creativity, politics, and family.
Meg Waite Clayton will be in conversation with novelist Peggy Townsend.
About the Author
New York Times bestseller and book club favorite Meg Waite Clayton is the author of nine novels, including Typewriter Beach and the international bestsellers The Postmistress of Paris, which was a Good Morning America Buzz Book and New York Times Editors Choice, and The Last Train to London, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Her The Wednesday Sisters is one of Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. Clayton's books have been published in 24 languages, and her screenplay for The Last Train to London was chosen for the prestigious Meryl Streep- and Nicole Kidman-sponsored The Writers Lab. She divides her time between California and Connecticut.
About the Moderator
Peggy Townsend is an award-winning journalist and author. She has covered natural disasters, health-care inequalities and has met more murderers than is probably good for anyone. Her most recent book, a thriller set in the Alaskan wilderness titled The Beautiful and the Wild, was an Amazon editor’s pick for best mystery and thriller and was inspired by a seven-week van trip through that state. Her newest mystery, The Botanist’s Assistant, which reviewers are calling“delightful,” “refreshing” and “inspiring,” is set for release in November. She divides her time between a small beach house in Santa Cruz and an even smaller cabin near Lake Tahoe.
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