Frank & Ava: In Love and War

by John Brady Narrated by Alan Grupper

Overview

"If I had to go back in Hollywood history and name two people who were most desperately and passionately in love with each other, I would say Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner were It."-Liz Smith.

It began in Hollywood's golden age when Ava was emerging as a movie star. But she fell in (and out of) love too easily. Mickey Rooney married her because he wanted another conquest. Artie Shaw treated her like a dumb brunette, giving her a reading list on their honeymoon. Neither marriage lasted a year. Then, after being courted by Howard Hughes and numerous others, along came Frank Sinatra.

His passion for Ava destroyed his marriage and brought him close to ruin. Their wild affair broke all the rules of the prudish era as Frank left his wife and children and pursued Ava on an international stage. They became romantic renegades, with the press following them from location to location.

"Oh, God, Frank Sinatra could be the sweetest, most charming man in the world when he was in the mood," said Ava. They married, but then came the quarrels, separations, infidelities, and reconciliations. Eventually, there was a divorce, and they thought it was over. It wasn't.

Through all of the tortured years of separation and splintered affairs with others, they maintained a secretive relationship known only to those who recognized that this was the love of a lifetime. Over the years, they attempted to reconcile, romanced and nurtured each other, right to the end.

The love story of this couple has never been fully explored or explained-until now. Frank & Ava delves deeply into the lives of these two iconic stars and their turbulent lifelong relationship. More than anything else, this is the story of a romance lived out under battlefield conditions.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/31/2015
Veteran editor and author Brady (Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater) approaches the love-hate history of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner with reliable thoroughness. He reveals his sources for each chapter, promising that “no scenes or conversations are fabricated,” and an impressive bibliography shows the depth of his research. These resources build an unusually blunt, absorbing portrait of “the Voice,” whose disdain for others was often jaw-dropping. Sinatra gave Buddy Rich $25,000 to fund his own band so he’d be free to dally with the drummer’s wife, and had an affair with Lauren Bacall while Humphrey Bogart, her husband and Sinatra’s friend, was dying. Brady refrains from coming to his own conclusions about Sinatra, letting other voices speak. Wilfried Sheed is quoted as saying Sinatra was “doing what practically every man in America at least wanted to do—cheating on his wife and chasing after Ava Gardner.” The repeated ups and downs of the Sinatra-Gardner relationship and careers become tiresome, but Brady knows how to keep readers turning pages all the way to the end of Sinatra’s career, when everything that he had collected was sold at auction. Anyone remotely curious about either of these larger-than-life characters will want to read Brady’s book. Agent: Julia Lord, Julia Lord Literary. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

A tantalizing lagniappe for those fascinated by the star-crossed duo — twinned in obsession, emotional instability, infidelity, and, finally, friendship.” —The Boston Globe

"Details Sinatra and Gardner's tumultuous romance. Their scandalous affair, six-year marriage and eventual divorce in the late 1950s are put under the microscope, all the while painting a broader portrait of Hollywood's Golden Age. —USA Today

“Anyone remotely curious about either of these larger-than-life characters will want to read Brady's book.” —Publishers Weekly on Frank & Ava

“Brady reveals the human side of a grand love affair that somehow survived a marriage and a divorce, epic battles, and sweeping romantic gestures...This honest and contemporary look at an almost mythical couple is a quick-paced and poignant tale that will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers.” —Library Journal on Frank & Ava

"More than a story of a dizzying love affair, Frank & Ava depicts the profound aftershocks of a relationship."
-BookPage on Frank & Ava

“A riveting account of the most unlikely Republican in the history of American politics. John Brady's fascinating rise-and-fall biography of Lee Atwater also makes you wonder who'd be sitting in the White House today if he had not died at the too-early age of 40.” —Christopher Buckley, author of Thank You for Smoking, on Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater

“John Brady has made a compelling story of all the unprincipled things Lee Atwater did to make our national politics into a low-down gutter fight. He was indeed the meanest son-of-a-bitch in the political valley till he came to the Valley of Death. In a better world, angels' stories would enthrall us more than those about bad guys like Atwater, but in the one we have, the bad guys' stories rule.” —George V. Higgins, author of The Friends of Eddie Coyle, on Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater

“It seems to say almost everything to be said about talking to others for publication.” —Columbia Journalism Review on The Craft of Interviewing

“This is a must-read book for serious film buffs, and fun for anyone who is interested in the stories of some of the most successful screenwriters at work today.” —People magazine on The Craft of the Screenwriter

“A worthy and needed guide.” —Gay Talese, author of Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, on The Interviewer's Handbook

Library Journal

09/15/2015
There has always been a gloss surrounding Old Hollywood that has protected the celebrities from that era, turning them from mere mortals into gods and goddesses not bound by the strict morals of their time (as long as they were discreet about it). Two of the brightest stars in this galaxy were Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra, and their roller-coaster love affair, while legendary, has never been deeply explored until now. Brady (The Craft of the Screenwriter) follows the story of Gardner and Sinatra from their first encounters in Hollywood in the 1940s until their last communications before Gardner's death in 1990. Brady reveals the human side of a grand love affair that somehow survived a marriage and a divorce, epic battles, and sweeping romantic gestures. What started as an extramarital affair became a connection between two very human people that lasted the rest of their lives. VERDICT This honest and contemporary look at an almost mythical couple is a quick-paced and poignant tale that will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. [See Prepub Alert, 4/6/15.]—Teri Shiel, Univ. of Connecticut Health Ctr. Lib., Farmington

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172212918
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	10/13/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

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