Out of Limelight … Chaplin in a still from the eponymous film. Photograph: W Eugene Smith/Time & Life Pictures

by alison flood

The only work of fiction ever written by Charlie Chaplin, a dark, nostalgic novella which was the root of his great film Limelight and which has lain unpublished for over 60 years, is being made public for the first time.

Footlights, which runs to 34,000 words, traces the same story as Chaplin’s valedictory film Limelight – that of an ageing, alcoholic clown Calvero and the ballerina he saves from suicide…more

To read excerpt of novel visit here