Ken and Thelma: The Story of a Confederacy of Dunces

“This valuable companion to Dunces will be a treat to those who’ve enjoyed the novel.”

—Larry Thornberry, Washington Times

Before it won the Pulitzer Prize and became an international bestseller, A Confederacy of Dunces was a rejected manuscript by an unknown New Orleans professor named John Kennedy Toole. It languished in a closet after Toole’s suicide for years until his mother discovered it. Almost as compelling as the novel’s plot is the story of the book’s publication and Toole’s posthumous winning of the Pulitzer Prize, driven by the indomitable will of his mother. From personal letters, contemporary journals, and family photos, author Joel L. Fletcher recalls his friendship with Toole during the early 1960s and his long, supportive friendship with Toole’s mother, Thelma Ducoing Toole.