About the book:

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

This wickedly candid memoir that Ava Gardner dared not publish during her lifetime offers a revealing self-portrait of the film legend’s life and loves in Hollywood’s golden age.

“I EITHER WRITE THE BOOK OR SELL THE JEWELS,” Ava Gardner told her coauthor, Peter Evans, “and I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels.” So began the collaboration that led to this remarkably candid, wickedly sardonic memoir.

Ava Gardner was one of Hollywood’s great stars during the 1940s and 1950s, an Oscar-nominated lead­ing lady who co-starred with Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, and Humphrey Bogart, among others. Her films included Show Boat, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Barefoot Contessa, and On the Beach. But her life off the screen was every bit as fabulous as her film roles.

Born poor in rural North Carolina, Gardner was given a Hollywood tryout thanks to a stunning photo of her displayed in a shop window. Not long after arriving in Hollywood, she caught the eye of Mickey Rooney, then America’s #1 box-office draw. Rooney was a womanizer so notorious that even his mother warned Gardner about him. They married, but the marriage lasted only a year (“my shortest husband and my biggest mistake”). Ava then married band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw, who would eventually marry eight times, but that marriage, too, lasted only about a year (“he was a dominating son of a bitch . . . always putting me down”). She carried on a passionate affair with Howard Hughes but didn’t love him, she said. Her third marriage was a tempestuous one to Frank Sinatra (“We were fighting all the time. Fighting and boozing. It was madness. . . . But he was good in the feathers”).

Faithfully recording Ava’s reminiscences in this book, Peter Evans describes their late-night conver­sations when Ava, having had something to drink and unable to sleep, was at her most candid. So candid, in fact, that when she read her own words, she backed out and halted the book. Only now, years after her death, could this frank and revealing memoir be published.

“If I get into this stuff, oh, honey, have you got something coming,” Ava told Evans. Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations is the stunning story of a legendary star’s public and private lives.

Rules:

TO ENTER:
1) Follow @ClassicMovieHub on twitter (for further instructions)
2) Successfully complete a qualifying entry task during the contest week

TO WIN: A winner will be chosen at random from the eligible contest entries at the end of each given contest week.

PRIZING: One book will be given away each week during the contest period, for a total giveaway of three books within three weeks.

ELIGIBILITY:
* Limited to Continental United States residents (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and the territory of Puerto Rico).
* Must be eighteen (18) years old and over as of the date of entry.
* Only one book per winner.
* BlogHub Bloggers are eligible to enter.
* Giveaway starts Monday July 28, 2014 and ends on Saturday Aug 16, 2014 at midnight EST or when all prizes are exhausted (whichever comes first).
* Each winner will be notified by email or DM and will have 48 hours to respond with their shipping information or a new winner may be chosen. If any Prize or Prize notification is returned as undeliverable, the winner may be disqualified, and an alternate winner may be selected.
* Prizes will ship directly after the contest period is over. Please allow up to 2 to 4 weeks for prize delivery. Classic Movie Hub is not responsible for prizes lost or stolen.
* Friends and Family of Classic Movie Hub are not eligible for entry.
* Classic Movie Hub was not paid for this giveaway or post.