THE BOOK BLOG: White Palace - The Book and Movie

When I first saw the movie White Palace with James Spader and Susan Sarandon in the early 90's, I was thrilled to find out it was based on a novel by Glenn Savan. This was before the days of Amazon and Kindle, so I had to do it the old-fashioned way. I ran to the bookstore and purchased the book. I devoured it. Of course the book was even better than the movie, as is usually the case. Movies can also do the book justice, and in this case, it did. James Spader and Susan Sarandon were well-cast as Max and Nora. Based in Dogtown, St. Louis, Missouri, it is about the intense connection between an older woman from the wrong side of town and a young widow who can't get her out of his mind. The characters are complex and interesting, including Max's Jewish mother and his best friend from childhood Neil Horowitz (played by Jason Alexander in the movie).

When I first read White Palace, I was in my 20's and the older woman was much older (42!). Now that I'm in my late 40's, I am older than the older woman, but this story NEVER gets old. It's a beautiful book and one of my all-time favorites. I re-read the book about once a year when enough time has gone by, and I get lost in it every time. I own the Advance Reading Copy signed by Glenn Savan and James Spader:

Advance Reading Copy - June 16, 1987

Sadly, Glenn Savan passed away in 2003 at the age of 49, but whenever I read White Palace, I feel as if he is right here with me.

Glenn Savan, Author of White Palace
1953-2003

The book is now out of print and the movie is only available on DVD. I reached out to the publisher about this because it would be a shame for anyone to miss out on this gem. I hope the book will become available electronically with an audio version as well. In the meantime, we do still have the paperback and DVD.