This novel is based loosely on the characters of Broadway playwright Lillian Hellman and her beloved father Max, a reckless philanderer. When Lily was a child of 8 in New Orleans she told a deliberate lie to destroy Max. Years later when Max confronts a New York court under McCarthyism, Lillian now 47 and called as a Prosecuting Witness faces a moral dilemma: should she tell a second lie to save Max's life?
This novel is based loosely on the characters of Broadway playwright Lillian Hellman and her beloved father Max, a reckless philanderer. When Lily was a child of 8 in New Orleans she told a deliberate lie to destroy Max. Years later when Max confronts a New York court under McCarthyism, Lillian now 47 and called as a Prosecuting Witness faces a moral dilemma: should she tell a second lie to save Max's life?