Frank  Ava, John Brady
Frank  Ava, John Brady
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
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Frank & Ava
In Love and War

Author: John Brady

Narrator: Alan Grupper

Unabridged: 9 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/13/2015


Synopsis

"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.

About John Brady

John Brady is a veteran writer, editor, and author of five books, including The Craft of the Screenwriter and the investigative biography Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater. A longtime Sinatra specialist, he worked at Warner/Reprise Records in the 1970s when Frank Sinatra came out of a brief retirement as "Ol' Blue Eyes." Brady was editor-in-chief at Writer's Digest and Boston magazine, and founding editor of The Artist's Magazine. His byline has appeared in New York, New Times, Esquire, American Film, The Washington Post Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine and numerous other publications. He has taught journalism at Boston University, Emerson College, the Scripps School of Journalism (Ohio University) and was Hearst Visiting Professor at the University of Missouri Journalism School. He lives and writes in Newburyport, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ines on July 19, 2022

Ho finito questo libro con un groppo alla gola, saranno stati degli idoli mondiali, ma che vit privata travagliata, triste e destrutturata devono aver avuto. E pensare che Ava è morta sola, senza nessuno vicino mette una tristezza infinita..........more

Goodreads review by Brooklyn on April 03, 2016

I must say I was leaning towards a 3 star review but ended up giving this four just because those last few chapters were so sad. I was tearing up by the end of the book, it just confirmed what I knew though; Frank and Ava were each other's one love.......more

Goodreads review by Anne on July 22, 2018

I was visiting a friend in Newburyport, MA, and I looked at the house next door and remarked that it was a beautiful, historic home. My friend said, "A nonfiction writer lives there," and he referenced this book. My initial thought was: 'What more can be written about Frank and Ava that the world do......more

Goodreads review by Katherine on July 28, 2015

Basically this is a Hollywood tell all with a central theme of Frank's big love was Ava, Ava's big love was Frank. They couldn't live together but just couldn't stay apart. Ho-hum----the story didn't strike me as a life long passion but rather an obsessive relationship driven primarily by lust and b......more

Goodreads review by Karen on August 14, 2015

It was a fascinating look at 2 stars I heard about but didn't know much about. I also got to read about other stars like Bogart and Bacall. It was like getting to have a behind the scenes look at old Hollywood. It was sad that Frank loved Ava so much but they couldn't make it work. I think it was so......more