Based on the author's own experience, The Lost Weekend is an unflinching and gripping insight into an alcoholic's life, vividly set against the 1936 Manhattan skyline. Jackson's first novel, it was rapturously received, and its author hailed as a major new voice on the American literary scene. Billy Wilder immediately adapted it for the screen, and it instantly became a Hollywood classic, winning four Oscars, among them best picture and best director. The Lost Weekend was by far Jackson's most successful novel, and sold over a million copies on publication.