Hurry Up and Wait

New York: Whittlesey House/Mcgraw-Hill Book Company. Very Good+ in Fair dj. (c.1946). First Edition. Hardcover. [good solid copy, minor shelfwear, minor spotting on top edge, a little fading to top 2 inches of spine cloth; jacket edgeworn, minor chipping at base of spine, spine sunned, approx. top 2" of spine missing along with 1"x2" triangular piece at top corner of rear panel (rear panel text not affected, although title on spine is completely gone)]. Having scored big with her 1943 novel "Since You Went Away," a fictional treatment of a family's wartime tribulations ( the 1944 film version of which was the archetypal WWII tearjerker), the author attempted here to extend the franchise by recounting the further adventures of Anne (the mother/protagonist of the first book, played by Claudette Colbert in the movie) after she sells the book to the movies and then follows it, family ( including dogs) in tow, to Hollywood, where she meets "a lot of new people, including the famous Mr. Selznick" (who, of course, was the real- life producer of the film SINCE YOU WENT AWAY). Where does real life leave off here, and fiction begin? Interestingly, although most follow-ups to big best-sellers are over-printed and thus abundant in the used-book market, this one is remarkably hard to find. .