Sailor and Fiddler

“A sparkling memoir of a well-lived life of literature, fame, and love” ( Booklist ) by one of America’s most beloved authors, as he looks back over his 100 years.

In this remarkable memoir “full of adventure, wit, color, and detail” ( Jewish Journal ), Herman Wouk finally reflects on the life experiences that inspired his most enduring novels. With a tone that is “generous and warm” ( The Boston Globe ), he tells of his days writing for comedian Fred Allen’s radio show, one of the most popular shows in the history of the medium; enlisting in the US Navy during World War II; falling in love with Betty Sarah Brown, the woman who would become his wife (and literary agent) for sixty-three years; writing his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Caine Mutiny ; as well as a big hit Broadway play and an equally big Broadway flop; and the surprising inspirations and people behind such masterpieces as The Winds of War , War and Remembrance , Marjorie Morningstar , and Youngblood Hawke.

Written with the wisdom of a “trailblazing centenarian charmer” ( Buffalo News ) and the wit of someone who began his career as professional comedy writer, Sailor and Fiddler is an unprecedented reflection on writing and faith—“a lovely coda to the career of a man who made American literature a kinder, smarter, better place” (NPR).