Lillian and Dash

Sam Toperoff's speculative novel about the affair between writers Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett is thoroughly entertaining, perhaps more than the truth may have been. Hellman and Hammett were legendary figures whose relationship spanned decades and has been the subject of much conjecture. Translating what was, and what may have been, is not easy, yet the book, in all its juiciness, succeeds in doing so. The audio version is equally impressive, with narrators Mark Bramhall, Lorna Raver, and Bernadette Dunne complementing each other and enriching Toperoff's engaging dialogue. They succeed by bringing to life the words and personalities of two celebrities who were known almost as much for their personal lives as they were for their writing. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine