The Original

"The writing is delicate and potent... appeals to both the heart and the intellect" — The Independent

"Dreamlike... a glimpse into the petri dish of 1930s Hollywood... an immersive portrayal" — The Times

Katharine Hepburn was a legend. This is the novel of how she became one.

After the devastating loss of her beloved brother, young Katharine Hepburn determines that she will be famous and never let anyone hurt her again. Leaving behind her East Coast marriage and patrician family, she arrives in 1930s Hollywood determined to live on her own terms. But the studio system has rules, and Kate — brilliant, bisexual and fiercely independent — refuses to follow them. Moving through a glittering world of power and ambition alongside figures like David and Irene Selznick, Cary Grant, John Ford and Howard Hughes, she forges her own path. Kate faces an impossible choice: become the star Hollywood demands, or risk everything to be the woman she always was. Blending meticulous research with incandescent imagination, Priya Parmar delivers an emotionally charged portrait of an icon who refused to be anything but original.

"Anyone interested in Hepburn's early career will have a hard time resisting this stylish, insightful deconstruction of her carefully crafted public persona" — New York Times