Elvis in the Morning: The Story of His Life, From a Fan by the late author William F. Buckley Jr. (
Wikipedia), an influential and controversial right-wing intellectual who founded the National Review and also happened to win a National Book Award for one of his spy thriller novels, is his historical literary fiction coming of age novel which is also a semi-biographical treatment of Elvis Presley, starring a boy who becomes a fan of the King, and grows up alongside him, with his idol's life experiences reflecting upon his own, after a chance encounter leads to an unexpected friendship, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press.
This was originally published in 2001 by Harcourt. The author includes a foreword with a moderately lengthly list of assorted non-fiction works about Elvis which he consulted for this novel, which is a nice touch.
Currently free @
Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and pretty much everywhere else Amazon sells worldwide, since this is being done via their KDP Select exclusive-or-else program)
Description
Life in the shadow of the King of Rock and Roll…
Orson is a young boy whose mother works at a U.S. Army base in Germany in the 1950s.
There, he becomes a fan of a G.I. stationed at the same base, one Elvis Presley, whose music is played over and over on the radio.
When Orson is caught stealing recordings of Elvis’s tunes from the PX, the publicity catches the star’s attention and thus begins a lifelong friendship.
As Elvis’s career rockets ever higher, Orson and Elvis share many adventures. Elvis becomes the idol of the nation, while Orson drifts away from mainstream life searching for something to believe in.
Each man is an emblem of his time, as social conventions crumble, barriers fall, and the cultural landscape of America changes forever.
Elvis in the Morning is a riveting portrayal of a nation in change and of the effects of celebrity on innocence.