Posted on September 19, 2018 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Those who haven’t read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita may not know that his novel was at least partly inspired by a real-life national news story.

And even those who read it may have missed Humbert Humbert’s reference to that case. Author Sarah Weinman has set out to fix that.

Her new book, The Real Lolita, tells the story of Sally Horner, kidnapped at age eleven in 1948 and held hostage for nearly two years by a convicted sex offender.

Weinman spoke about the case and its parallels to Nabokov's novel on Weekend Edition.

Listen to the interview below or visit NPR’s website for an edited transcript.

Categories: Author Interview

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