A Death Wish

John Isaac Jones's new biographical novel on Ernest Hemingway brings the turbulent world of America's most famous author to life in vivid, captivating detail.

His time - 1900-1960s America - Spanish-American War; Model T invented; Teddy Roosevelt years; Wright Brothers' first flight; World War I; Galveston hurricane leaves 6,500 dead; the flamboyant, roaring twenties The Great Depression; Roosevelt's New Deal; World War II and Pearl Harbor; invention of the atomic bomb; World War II ends; Kennedy assassination.

His loves - From the day he was born, women swarmed around him like flies to honey. Known as the resident Casanova in high school, he went to have countless mistresses, a total of four wives and passionate flings with actresses Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich and Ava Gardner. During his later years, devoted fourth wife Mary Welsh Hemingway served as his personal caretaker and literary executor.

His genius - War correspondent, poet, screenwriter, sportsman, novelist and short story writer who penned the classics A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls and the immortal The Old Man and the Sea. During the twenties and thirties, his sparse, direct "iceberg theory" writing style created a sensation on the world's literary stage.

These pages deliver a compelling portrait of one of the greatest men of letters the world has ever known.