Janszoon

It's 1942 and Humphrey Bogart seems to have it all - except sustainable love, a real family, and the enduring legacy of children.

By day, Humphrey Bogart reads lines for "Casablanca" with Ingrid Bergman; by night, he's drinking bourbon on the Sunset Strip with friends like Peter Lorre and Leslie Howard. Behind closed doors, life is not so glamorous. High-profile fights with his wife Mayo and a rigid studio contract enforcing a series of mediocre films make Bogart feel personally and professionally trapped… until a mysterious note arrives on set. Heeding the strange invitation, Bogart finds himself in a series of long, secret conversations with his aunt and cousin about the swashbuckling tales of their ancestor, the pirate Jan Janszoon van Salee. These tales of the high seas ignite a fire within Bogart to carve out a path that is uniquely his own—even if it means shedding the roles and people who made him famous. "Janszoon" is more than a Hollywood fantasy; it's a journey into the heart of a man wrestling with ambitions and desires, an actor who yearns to balance his on-screen personas with his off-screen reality. Covering his tumultuous marriage, infamous USO tour, and his affairs with Verita Patterson and Lauren Bacall, "Janszoon" imagines the enigmatic Humphrey Bogart seeking a legacy that transcends the ephemeral glow of stardom.

Dr. Mark Kraver is an American novelist and United States Air Force Dental Corps veteran. Since his service, he's worked as a General Dentist specializing in craniofacial pain. He now lives on the water in southwest Florida with his wife of 45+ years and a large, undisciplined garden. They also have three grown children, seven grandchildren, and several finished and unfinished historical fiction novels. Dr. Kraver grew up in Florida, where his father was a rocket scientist, and has also lived in Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.