Writers in the Loft Welcomes NYT Bestseller Nicholas Reynolds

On Thursday, August 10, the former CIA officer and historian at the CIA Museum Nicholas Reynolds comes to town with his unique biography WRITER, SAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961. In this New York Times bestseller, Reynolds reveals Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway's secret life as a spy for both the Americans and the Soviets before and during World War II.

The 7pm event includes an author presentation and moderated Q+A, plus book signing and meet-and-greet. It will be held at the Music Hall Loft at 131 Congress Street, in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"Nicholas Reynolds' bestseller is a fascinating look at the life of Ernest Hemingway, someone we think we know through his fiction -his legendary days in Paris and Spain, his passion for Key West and Cuba. Full of CIA revelations, this book makes Hemingway's story of 'rugged individualism' even more compelling," said Margaret Talcott, Producer of Writers in the Loft and the evening's moderator. As it unfolds Hemingway's personal life and involvement in several conflicts, "WRITER, SAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY takes us also to last century's great conflicts - in Spain, occupied France, Cuba, and the USSR, now Russia. Brimming with old news as well as new discoveries, Reynolds mixes history and biography to tell a thrilling spy tale."

In 2010, while he was the historian at the esteemed CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a longtime American intelligence officer, former U.S. Marine colonel, and Oxford-trained historian, began to uncover clues suggesting Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway was deeply involved in mid-twentieth-century spycraft-a mysterious and shocking relationship that was far more complex, sustained, and fraught with risks than has ever been previously supposed. Now Reynold's meticulously researched and captivating narrative, WRITER, SAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, reveals for the first time the whole story of this hidden side of Hemingway's life: his troubling recruitment by Soviet spies to work with the NKVD, the forerunner to the KGB, followed in short order by a complex set of secret relationships with American agencies, including the FBI, the Department of State, the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to the CIA.

As he examines the links between Hemingway's work as an operative and as an author, Reynolds reveals how Hemingway's secret adventures influenced his literary output and contributed to the writer's block and mental decline (including paranoia) that plagued him during the postwar years-a period marked by the Red Scare and McCarthy hearings, which destroyed the life of anyone with Soviet connections. Reynolds also illuminates how those same experiences played a role in some of Hemingway's greatest works, including For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea, while also adding to the burden that he carried at the end of his life and perhaps contributed to his suicide.

A literary biography with the soul of an espionage thriller, WRITER, SAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY is an essential contribution to our understanding of the life, work, and fate of one of America's most legendary authors. Join us for a night of reading and revelations with Nicholas Reynolds!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicholas Reynolds has worked in the fields of modern military history and intelligence off and on for 40 years. Freshly minted PhD from Oxford University in hand, he joined the Marine Corps in the 1970s, serving as an infantry officer and then as an historian. As a colonel in the reserves, he eventually became officer in charge of field history, deploying historians around the world to capture history as it was being made. When not on duty with the USMC, he served as a CIA officer at home and abroad, immersing himself in the very human business of espionage. Most recently, he was the historian for the CIA Museum, responsible for developing its strategic plan and helping to turn remarkable artifacts into compelling stories. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and, with his wife, Becky, cares for rescue pugs.

TICKETS

The ticket package for Writers in the Loft: Nicholas Reynolds on Thursday, August 10 at 7pm is $42 ($40, members). In addition to a reserved seat, the package includes a copy of WRITER, SAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures ($27.99, hardcover), a bar beverage, and book signing meet-and-greet. Packages can be purchased online at TheMusicHall.org, over the phone at 603.436.2400 or in person at the B2W Box Office at the Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut Street.

About Writers in the Loft

Akin to The Music Hall's anchor literary series, Writers on a New England Stage, Writers in the Loft features bestselling authors in a smaller, more intimate space. The series brings audiences today's top authors, the best of fiction and nonfiction, and award-winners across categories. The evening package includes a reserved seat and bar beverage, author presentation and Q+A, a copy of the book, and a meet-and-greet book signing with the featured writer.

Series Sponsor: RMC Research Corporation

Contributing Partner: The University of New Hampshire

Season Sponsors: Carey & Giampa Realtors; Portwalk Place; The River House restaurant

About The Music Hall

The Music Hall is a performing arts center featuring curated entertainment from around the world in two theaters in its downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire campus - one, a landmark 1878 Victorian theater, designated an American Treasure for the Arts by the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures Program, the other the intimate Music Hall Loft around the corner, recently named "best performing arts venue" by Yankee Magazine and the recipient of the NH AIA award for design excellence.

Photo credit: Becky Reynolds