The bestselling author of Middle England returns with the evocative story of a young woman with a thirst for life and a slighted Hollywood director consumed by the past.
The dazzling new novel from the prize-winning, bestselling author of Middle England.
In the heady summer of 1977, a naive young woman called Calista sets out from Athens to venture into the wider world. On a Greek island that has been turned into a film set, she finds herself working for the famed Hollywood director Billy Wilder, about whom she knows almost nothing. But the time she spends in this glamorous, unfamiliar new life will change her for good.
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 new film with German money, and when Calista follows him to Munich for the shooting of further scenes, she finds herself joining him on a journey of memory into the dark heart of his family history.
In a novel that is at once a tender coming-of-age story and an intimate portrait of one of cinema's most intriguing figures, Jonathan Coe turns his gaze on the nature of time and fame, of family and the treacherous lure of nostalgia. When the world is catapulting towards change, do you hold on for dear life or decide it's time to let go?
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241454664
Number of pages: 256
Weight: 377 g
Dimensions: 222 x 144 x 26 mm
A satisfyingly 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
Knowledgeably enthralled by cinema, Jonathan Coe has often spliced it inventively into his fiction. This richly enjoyable novel is entirely devoted to it. The career of one of Hollywood's greatest directors is unrolled with wit and enthusiasm tinged with melancholy - The Sunday Times Best Fiction Books of the Year
Effortlessly pleasurable and deceptively simple. Mr Wilder & Me doesn't lack resonance, yet stays light on its feet. The whole book feels like some marvellous party where you ricochet from one good conversation to another - The Times
A coming of age story which offers a fascinating insight into fame - and the perils of an industry in flux - Daily Telegraph
The dialogue's sharp, the comic timing excellent - Sunday Times
One of my favourite writers . . . a thoughtful tender read - Good Housekeeping
A beautiful, bittersweet novel that is itself crying out for the silver screen treatment . . . sheer delight - Scotsman
This is a charming, bittersweet book, and a perfect reminder of art's value in stark times - Spectator
Absolutely wonderful - Nigella Lawson
A tender portrait. Coe's close-up on Wilder doesn't just celebrate the man but embodies his glorious ability to say sad things in a funny way, and vice versa - Daily Telegraph
History meets fiction in this absorbing read . . . A nostalgic look at a girl coming of age and a man dealing with age, evocatively written - Woman's Own
Elegantly brings together Calista's and Wilder's worlds - TLS
A love letter to the spirit of cinema - Guardian
An engaging exploration of the fleeting nature of fame - i News, 50 best books for Christmas 2020
A book more loving towards its readers or its subject is hard to imagine - John Self, The Critic
Coe's charming, bittersweet novelfictionalises director Billy Wilder'swilderness years; shunned byHollywood, he films Fedora inGreece, befriending a Greekwoman (the novel's narrator). - Daily Telegraph
A nostalgic, atmospheric coming-of-age story - Mail on Sunday
Mr Wilder and Me has considerable charm and Wilder-like slightness and levity of spirit - Literary Review
Shit hot - Bob Mortimer
Calista, a Geek/ English girl ends up working as an interpreter for Mr Wilder and Iz Diamond on the set of the film ‘Fedora’.
Coe creates a highly interesting contrasting relationship between the two main characters;...
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Following Coe's political and social look at Brexit in present day Britain, he returns to one of his loves - film.
The story follows the making of Billy Wilder's final film, Fedora: a white elephant of a...
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To paraphrase Billy Wilder’s thoughts: if everything is going wrong with your life, do you really want to go out to watch a movie called ‘Despair’?
For me, this novel was an absolute delight. I am one of a small...
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