Hoax - Softcover

Irving, Clifford

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552154512 ISBN 13: 9780552154512

Publisher: Unknown, 2007

Synopsis

'I was down to my last chip, but it never occurred to me not to put it on the line, bet it, and roll the dice one more time . . .'

For Clifford Irving it was to be boom or bust. He chose to go for broke and pulled the most sensational hoax involving Howard Hughes, a prestigious New York publishing house and over a million dollars. It made global newspaper headlines and was heralded as the biggest media scam of all time.

'The Hoax' recreates Irving's recreates audacious literary sting when he convinced a US publisher that Howard Hughes, the reclusive billionaire, had commissioned Irving to write his authorised biography. A frantic year ensued while Irving forged letters and passports, faked interviews, set up a Swiss bank account and travelled thousands of miles to maintain his story, all the while desperately trying to juggle a wife, a mistress and an editor. Gradually the cracks in the plot started to appear and the nightmare began. Before he knew it, Irving realised he was set on a crash course towards indictment, conviction and jail.

About this title

About the Author

Clifford Irving, his wife, Edith, and his collaborator, Richard Suskind, went to prison for their efforts. But, as the author himself writes: “Beyond all the naivete and stupidity, beyond the vulgarity inherent in the amount of money involved—beyond all this a certain grandeur had rooted itself in the scheme, and I could still spy a reckless and artistic splendor to the way we had carried it out.”

From AudioFile

This blockbuster "confessional" by the author of the greatest literary hoax of our time--the "autobiography" of Howard Hughes--was published in Great Britain in 1997 but remained untouched by American publishers until now. When Clifford Irving and his researcher Dick Susskind hatched a plot to write a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire, they embarked on a cataclysmic year of double-dealing, corruption, sex, lies, and forgeries. Narrator Joe Barrett is remarkably convincing as the determined author, who finds himself in over his head. Barrett even manages to "sound" fat as Irving's rotund partner-in-crime, Susskind. The surprise scene-stealer is Irving's foreign-born, conniving, money-laundering wife, an impeccable portrayal. No matter what the world thinks of Irving, con man extraordinaire, Barrett makes this book about a bogus book as hair-raising, breathlessly paced, and suspenseful as any spy novel. M.T.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Unknown
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0552154512
• ISBN 13: 9780552154512
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 462