Description
Book SynopsisNora Ephron was one of the most popular, accomplished, and beloved writers in American journalism and film.Nora Ephron: A Biography is the first comprehensive portrait of the Manhattan-born girl who forged a path of her own, earning accolades and adoration from critics and fans alike. Author Kristin Marguerite Doidge explores the tremendous successes and disappointing failures Ephron sustained in her career as a popular essayist turned screenwriter turned film director. She redefined the modern rom-com genre with bestselling books such as
Heartburn and hit movies including
When Harry Met Sally,
Sleepless in Seattle, and
Julie & Julia. Doidge also examines the private life Ephron tried to keep in balance with her insatiable ambition.
Based on rare archival research and numerous interviews with some of Ephron's closest friends, collaborators, and award-winning colleagues including actors Tom Hanks and Caroline Aaron, comedian Martin Short, composer George Fenton, and lifelong friends from Wellesley to New York to Hollywood—as well as interviews Ephron herself gave throughout her career—award-winning journalist and cultural critic Doidge has written a captivating story of the life of a creative writer whose passion for the perfect one-liner and ferocious drive to succeed revolutionized journalism, comedy, and film.
The first in-depth biography to explore the complex themes that ran through Ephron's work and to examine why so many of them still grab our attention today.Trade Review"I can say, I believe with understandable pride, that I put Nora on a pedestal before the rest of you. I was seven years old, away from home for the first time, at summer camp in Arizona . . . and there was Nora, eleven years old, the undeniable star of the camp, showing the brilliance, the warmth, the wit, the spirit, the many facets and colors that would mark all her years. Doidge lets us accompany Nora on her journey, capturing all those qualities as well as her triumphs and heartbreaks, taking us behind the scenes of her life with understanding and insight. A masterful job." Victoria Riskin, writer, producer, former president of the WGA
"With the astuteness of a journalist and the heart of a true film fan, Kristin Marguerite Doidge has written an important and compelling primer of the life and career of Nora Ephron. Doidge's delicious prose and deep empathy for her subject's complexity enable her to capture both the sunlight and the shadow of Ephron and reveal her to be a great inspiration : She was the daughter of prominent screenwriters who happened to also be difficult alcoholics, a twice-divorced mother who found the love of her life by being courageous enough to open her heart again, and a talented writer-director who brought two of the most significant romantic comedies in American history to the screen despite the odds being stacked against a woman succeeding. Ephron died in 2012, before the rampant adoption of social media, the Women's March, the most recent movement to close the gender pay gap, and a number of other significant cultural movements that would have likely galvanized her status as a leading feminist icon for another generation and beyond had she lived to participate in them. Now a decade after Ephron's death, we are lucky to have Doidge's reminder of the importance and beauty of Ephron's life and work, and how relevant they are to our current cultural conversations. This book is sure to inspire the next generation of Ephron fans to pick up her writing, turn on her films, and dream another dream of what is possible in their lives." Holly Van Leuven, author of Ray Bolger: More than a Scarecrow
Table of ContentsPROLOGUE: WHY NORA EPHRON (STILL) MATTERS ACT ONE: GROWING UP EPHRON (The early years: 1941-1958) CHAPTER ONE: “Can I Read Your Work?”
CHAPTER TWO: “The Business”
CHAPTER THREE: Beverly Hills High
ACT TWO: THE WELLESLEY YEARS (1958-1962) & NEW JOURNALISM (1962-mid-70’s) CHAPTER FOUR: Take Her, She’s Mine
CHAPTER FIVE: Mail Girl
CHAPTER SIX: Wallflower
ACT THREE: BERNSTEIN AND BERNIE (1976-1987) CHAPTER SEVEN: Ms. Ephron Goes to Washington
CHAPTER EIGHT: When Nora Met Jacob
CHAPTER NINE: Saved by a Building (1980-87)
ACT FOUR: NORA THE FILMMAKER (1989-2000’s) CHAPTER TEN: What Nora’s Having
CHAPTER ELEVEN: This is My Life
CHAPTER TWELVE: Sleepless
ACT FIVE: IN THE END (2000-2012) CHAPTER THIRTEEN: More writing than ever
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: “I have this blood thing.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: A softer Nora
PROLOGUE: POST-EPHRON (2012-present) (or The Sound of Silence)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSNOTESSOURCES/REFERENCES
