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Cover of Famous Writers I Have Known: A Novel

Famous Writers I Have Known: A Novel

by James Magnuson

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"A gloriously farfetched tale, but alarmingly real to anyone who knows the weird world of MFA programs. Besides which, it's a shit-load of fun." —Peter Carey, two-time winner of the Booker Prize In this brilliant mix of literary satire and crime caper, Frankie Abandonato, a small-time con man on the run, finds refuge by posing as V. S. Mohle—a famously reclusive writer—and teaching in a prestigious writing program somewhere in Texas. Streetwise and semiliterate, Frankie finds that being treated as a genius agrees with him. The program has been funded by Rex Schoeninger, the world’s richest novelist, who is dying. Buzzards are circling, angling for the remains of Rex’s fortune, and Frankie quickly realizes that he has been presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.…

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"When one of his scams goes seriously amiss, not-very-successful con artist Frankie Abandonato goes on the run from the Mafia. A chance encounter gives him the perfect disguise: pretending to be reclusive novelist V.S. Mohle, who has agreed to teach a course to a hand-picked group of young writers at the University of Texas. Only trouble is, Frankie is neither a writer nor much of a reader. And he has to deal with former literary wunderkind and wealthy philanthropist Rex Schoeninger, who had a very public falling-out with Mohle years ago. Think Donald Westlake, another master of humorous caper novels."
NPR Books We Love — 2014 · apps.npr.org