{"product_id":"on-the-boardwalk","title":"On the Boardwalk","description":"\u003cp\u003eA memoir from the writer of BENT with a foreword by Ian McKellen\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSherman takes us on a journey through America in the mid twentieth century, starting in New Jersey - where he was born in the 1930s to a Jewish immigrant family - ending on Broadway with the premier of his seminal play \u003cem\u003eBent\u003c\/em\u003e starring Richard Gere. On route, we encounter other famous performers including Meryl Streep, Bee Gees, Joan Baez, but the scene-stealing character is always his father - a charismatic narcissist who might have given Trump a run for his money. We stop off in Woodstock, Los Angeles and London - a city Martin would eventually make home; he relays his story with self-depreciating humour as he struggles to make it in theatre, with his sexuality, and under the shadow of the inheritable disease that killed his mother tragically early - a disease from which he finds himself finally free, as he turns forty in the book's closing pages.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEditor Nathan Evans says, \u003cem\u003e'It's an honour to be working with Martin on his memoir: he's such an important cultural figure, and a mentor for me, personally. I remember being nineteen, sat in the back of my parents' car surrounded by boxes: I was on my way back to university, learning lines for a play I was in later that term. Mum turned around and asked what it was about; I didn't need to answer: I simply showed her the cover, with those four bold letters. Although it would take her some more months to ask the next question, she knew then; I am just one of the many, many young men - from 1979 right through to the present - who've been so emboldened by Bent. This is the story of the man who had the honesty, and the bravery to write it.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback \/ softback | Published September 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GARDNERS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63969435255133,"sku":"9781912620357","price":18.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0978\/3459\/8749\/files\/9781912620357.jpg?v=1774367939","url":"https:\/\/www.thebookmark.ie\/products\/on-the-boardwalk","provider":"The Bookmark ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}