Jack and Norman (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781250106995)

This is the story of an author and his apprentice. It is the story of literary influence and tragedy. It is also the story of incarceration in America.

Norman Mailer was writing The Executioner's Song, his novel about condemned killer Gary Gilmore, when he struck up a correspondence with Jack Henry Abbott, Federal Prisoner 87098-132. Over time, Abbott convinced the famous author that he was a talented writer who deserved another chance at freedom. With letters of support from Mailer and other literary elites of the day, Abbott was released on parole in 1981.

With Mailer's help, Abbott quickly became the literary "it boy" of New York City. But in a shocking turn of events, the day before a rave review of Abbott's book, In the Belly of the Beast, appeared in The New York Times, Abbott murdered a New York City waiter and fled to Mexico. Eerily, like Gary Gilmore in Mailer's true-life novel, Abbott killed within six weeks of his release from prison.

Now Jerome Loving explores the history of two of the most infamous books of the past 50 years, a fascinating story that has never before been told.

Author: Jerome Loving
ISBN-10: 1250106990
ISBN-13: 9781250106995
Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
Language: English
Published: 02/21/2017
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.80w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/14/2016
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2016
Booklist 01/01/2017 pg. 28
Library Journal 01/01/2017 pg. 98