The first meeting between Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles ended in thrown punches and exchanged insults. This most unlikely of pairings would go on to have a tumultuous friendship that would last for the next twenty-five years.

Lyrical and unafraid to tackle the difficulty of conveying the lives of two legendary self-mythologisers, this fascinating literary biography explores their intersecting paths, passions and love for Spain. Brought together by the Spanish Civil War and bound by bullfighting and the high life, Hemingway and Welles found their lives and art intertwining for more than two decades, as their fates gradually began to mirror one another.

Pete Carvill, author of the acclaimed Death of a Boxer, uses extensive research and literary flourish to bring to life this epic tale of two of the twentieth century’s most formidable figures.