We’re thrilled to welcome Clea Newman, youngest daughter of Hollywood legend and philanthropist Paul Newman, for an exclusive UK independent bookshop event.

In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman’s family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor’s life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.

The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. The book is insightful, revealing, surprising. Newman’s voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty. The additional voices – from childhood friends and Navy buddies, from family members and film and theatre collaborators such as Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill, Martin Ritt, and John Huston – that run throughout add richness and colour and context to the story Newman is telling.

Newman’s often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Brando and Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his philanthropy, the death of his son Scott and his strong desire for his daughters to know and understand the truth about their father.

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN is the raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an icon who’s legacy remains unmatched,

*Copies of the book will be available to purchase on the night for the RRP of £25.