Most novelists will tell you that writing a book is a distinct education unto itself: what you learn from research, of course; unanticipated themes that might surface and illuminate; suddenly-triggered personal memories; and pesky characters racing off under their own power to dictate maddening plot changes.

Even now, with a distinguished body of work that includes bestselling and beloved titles like "She's Come Undone," "The Hour I First Believed," "Wishin' and Hopin'," "We Are Water" and "I Know This Much is True," author Wally Lamb never gets tired of the wisdom and revelations afforded by his craft. But Lamb's latest, "I'll Take You There," was edifying in ways that, back at the dawn of his career, he could never have anticipated.

The story features Felix Funicello, the fifth-grade hero of "Wishin' and Hopin'." Now a 60-year-old film professor who hosts a Monday night movie series in New London's Garde Arts Center, Funicello encounters two of the legendary venue's female ghosts — both Hollywood legends from the silent era — and the experiences trigger a re-examination by Funicello of relationships with three generations of women who profoundly affected his life. It's a warm, wise and witty story with a strong and appreciative theme of feminism at its big heart — and captures a lot of local color and history from a writer who grew up in Norwich.

But, in addition to the print version from his longtime publisher, Harper, "I'll Take You There" is also available in an astonishing digital edition from a company called Metabook — a visionary new publisher whose titles boast numerous multi-media features — specifically tailor-conceptualized for each book. In theory, the digital aspect probably sounds a bit like an eBook. By comparison, though, an eBook is the literary equivalent of Fred Flintstone sitting in his foot-powered boulder-mobile while Metabook's George Jetson blows by in his flying space-car.

For example, the Metabook version of "I'll Take You There" includes, in addition to Lamb's original text layout, a full-cast audio dramatization of the book; an original soundtrack including a version of Janis Ian's "At Seventeen" she released especially for the project; short films; 360° galleries; interviews with the author and participating actors including Kathleen Turner, Elizabeth Banks, Dana Delany, Laura Benanti and Jeremy Sisto; shareable images for social media; and even a performance of an original piece by Justin Lamb, the author's son and an award-winning New Orleans slam poet.

The whole Metabook concept was a revelation to Lamb, who admits he wasn't a huge fan of eBooks — the earliest format for digitial books.

"I'd tried them — and my wife goes back and forth between eBooks and printed pages — but it just wasn't my thing," Lamb says, talking by phone Monday. "But when I saw a prototype of a Metabook, I was amazed and fascinated by the possibilities."

The company was founded by publisher Ken Siman in partnership with CEO Christian Alfonsi and creative director Benjamin Alfonsi — and Siman's own frustrations with eBooks played a role.

"I read a lot of eBooks but found them lacking in both beauty and function," he says in an email interview. "I thought, with the advances in technology, let's take an author's book — which is the soul of every Metabook — and, once the manuscript is finished, consider what can be added to enhance the reading experience, whether that's an audio drama, films, music ... And let's price it for less than a hardcover."

It turns out Lamb and Siman knew each other. Siman is also a writer, and the pair met back in 1992 when both were debut novelists and did a joint reading in Manhattan — Lamb for "She's Come Undone" and Siman for his novel "Pizza Face." Last year, the pair reunited in a Manhattan hotel lobby. After catching up a bit, Siman described the Metabook venture. Going forward after the initial "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" treatment, the idea was that Metabook would only publish original works. Would Lamb, he asked, be interested?

It turned out that Lamb indeed had a few ideas percolating. He'd participated in a documentary about the old Miss Rheingold Beer beauty pageants — a competition that had a narrative role in "Wishin' and Hopin'" — and he was at the same time fascinated by New London's Garde Arts Center, which had hosted the debut of the film version of "Wishin' and Hopin'." During preparations for that event, Lamb became friendly with Steve and Jeanne Sigel, the executive director and marketing director, respectively, at the theater. And when Steve mentioned the Garde was haunted — and that he himself had seen a ghost on the property — several disparate plotlines swirled about and suddenly coalesced into a plot line starring the 60-year-old Felix. And what, Lamb thought, if one of the Garde spectres happened to be Lois Weber, a trailblazing female director from silent film days who takes on a role mentoring Felix?

Once a deal was struck, Lamb went to work. But it was more than just writing a manucript in the usual fashion.

"Creativity is more chaotic than orderly," says Lamb. And, since he and his wife split their time between their Connecticut home and a small apartment in Manhattan, he was able to be part of the Metabook creative process. "For this, there was a lot of brainstorming. Writing can be a kind of lonely life, but ... I'd go down to the Metabook offices an and bat around ideas with Benjamin.  It was a lot of fun, and we came up with ideas like the 360-degree gallery. I'm a big image person because I wasted so much of my youth watching TV. There were so many images we could use to add dimension to the reading experience."

Another aspect of the process for Lamb was that, as a Baby Boomer in his 60s, he was introduced to a lot of technological developments he might not have encountered otherwise. And while as a bestselling author he's fairly fluent in basic social media, Lamb's immersion into the Metabook blueprint actually rubbed off through the creation of a character named Aliza — Felix's 20-something Manhattanite daughter.

"We have three sons, and I've always kind of wanted a daughter," Lamb says. "And our kids live in a contemporary reality. One of the major themes of the book is feminism and how it's been defined by generations. Aliza represents that one one level, and I had to deal with a lot of social media to capture that."

As the process evolved and unfolded, Lamb was delighted. The enthusiasm and participation of so many talented folks — from the actors and musicians to the technical wizards making it all happen — left him, he says, deeply gratified. Similarly, the final result is dazzling.

"It's all so much more than just electronic text," Lamb says. "I like the hybrid formula. It's part film and part audio and very visual — but it's all based on the book. I can't predict how it will work out, but I wanted to try something different, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. We'll see if it catches fire."

Lamb says he got a bit of pushback from longtime readers who prefer the traditional "turn the pages" method of reading. To that end, that's how the post-Metabook contract with Harper came about. All parties, he says, were supportive.

Siman says, "We have a standard for all of our titles — to provide soul and affordability, beauty and function. Once you find the right author, the rest will come. Each Metabook is its own creation and there's no formula. When Wally completed 'I'll Take You There,' we fell in love with it and went to work, and the response from the talent involved was just phenomenal."

Going forward, Siman says, he hopes that Metabook offers the best of the old and new.

"We're focusing on original titles, but we're also looking at Metabooks classics," he says. "That would expose young readers to books in a way they've never experienced and couldn't have imagined."