
The Real Lolita
The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World
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Narrated by:
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Cassandra Campbell
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By:
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Sarah Weinman
Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner.
Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita tells Sally Horner’s full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita.
Sally Horner’s story echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves. By diving deeper in the publication history of Lolita and restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novel’s creation, The Real Lolita casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.
©2018 Sarah Weinman (P)2018 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
“The Real Lolita is a tour de force of literary detective work. Not only does it shed new light on the terrifying true saga that influenced Nabokov’s masterpiece, it restores the forgotten victim to our consciousness.” (David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon)
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Also helps as a reminder of what a monster Nabokov's anti-hero really is. In fact, while I say it's good for Lolita fans, those fans who see Delores as a seductress and HH as a real hero will probably feel uncomfortable with this book.
Great for Lovers of True Crime and Lolita
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Disappointing
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However, having read “Lolita” several times, I was dismayed by several glaring errors about the novel’s text. Such obvious mistakes cannot help but make me worry whether there are other problems with the text that I didn’t catch, not knowing the history of Horner, LaSalle, Nabokov, and other real-life characters. Perhaps, the book will be revised in the future, to correct any other mishaps.
A great story, but contains “a shimmer of errors”
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Nah BOH kov
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The parallels are striking, but…
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The comparison of Sally Horner to Folores Hayes. It was fascinating to find out about Nabakov's maybe muse.
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Good back story information but her conclusion is wrong
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So that’s truth behind the fiction.
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Very interesting story!
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All future works in the genre will have to contend with the contributions of these two women.
A New Kind Of Truth-Telling
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