The Actual is a 1997 novel by the American author Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...

.

Plot synopsis

Like most of Bellow's fiction, the story centers on the lives of a group of passionate and anxious people living in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Harry Trellman has formed a friendship with the fabulously wealthy Sigmund Adletsky (perhaps inspired by Sheldon Adelson

Sheldon Adelson

Sheldon Gary Adelson is an American casino magnate. Adelson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center...

). Sigmund aims to bring Harry together with Harry's childhood sweetheart, Amy Wustrin.

Adaptations

• In 2009, Audible.com
  Audible.com
  Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers....
  
  produced an audio version of The Actual, narrated by A. C. Fellner, as part of its Modern Vanguard line of audiobooks.