LADOUCEUR UNVEILS NEW NOVEL AT SMITHTOWN LIBRARY
His 11th Gripping Book Probes the Truman Capote/Harper Lee Relationship
Smithtown novelist Jeb Ladouceur takes the podium to introduce his 11th book, ‘The Ghostwriters’ on Monday, Nov. 9th at the Smithtown libraryJeb Ladouceur appeared before a capacity crowd of book lovers on Monday night, November 9th, and introduced the eleventh novel he’s created in ten years, ‘The Ghostwriters.’ Venue for the book signing was the Main Branch of the magnificent new Smithtown Library at Main Street and Route 111.
The 332-page book is written in Truman Capote’s ‘Faction’ style, and its premise is centered on Harper Lee’s questionable authorship of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Much to the surprise of Ladouceur’s audience, moreover, the Smithtown novelist’s book boldly advances the theory that not only did Truman Capote write Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize winning novel … she, in turn, actually created Capote’s magnum opus, ‘In Cold Blood.’
;)
The large crowd filled the handsome meeting room in the library’s main branch on Main Street at Route 111The theory is one that the 50-year Smithtown resident has harbored since meeting Capote at the famed author’s favorite Bridgehampton haunt … Bobby Van’s Restaurant and Bar … in 1981. In his half-hour book-signing talk, Ladouceur cited compelling evidence to support his twin suppositions concerning two of America’s bestselling novels.
Truman Capote died in Los Angeles, at the home of Johnny Carson’s ex-wife, in 1984 without ever directly addressing the authorship issue … and Nelle Harper Lee, now 90, has persistently declined to discuss the matter. Lee lives a reclusive existence in Monroeville, Alabama, the small town where she and Truman grew up as next door neighbors.
Jeb Ladouceur was finally convinced to write the story he’s long felt needed telling, when Harper Lee’s draft of ‘Mockingbird’ was discovered and published in July of this year. The dissimilarity between that work, ‘Go Set a Watchman’ … still atop all sales charts after four months … and the iconic ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is undeniable according to the Smithtown novelist.
Many in the large audience last Monday came away accepting the collaboration premise that Ladouceur says involved, “…the most unlikely liaison since Hemingway and Gertrude Stein picked one another’s brains in the 1920s.” Ms. Lee steadfastly refuses to be interviewed by Smithtown’s favorite novelist.
For more information, interested parties are invited to visit www.jebsbooks.com.
Photos by Debbie Lange Fifer