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John O'Hara (center) with Earnest Hemingway (left) and Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsly, New York, NY, circa 1934.
Credit: Reproduced with the permission of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Special Collections Library, the Pennsylvania State University Libraries, John O'Hara Collection
Publication of his first novel, Appointment in Samarra, in 1934, won John O’Hara both popular and critical acclaim. One of its fans was Ernest Hemingway, who wrote "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra."