Zwilling's Dream — Ross Feld

This richly ironic comedy is a nimble juggle of shifting realities-named by the Los Angeles Times one of the Best Books of 1999. Joel Zwilling is emerging as a literary wunderkind. But when Joel's wife and daughter are killed in a car accident, he is left with a young son, and a resulting writer's block as unmoving as a pyramid. Over the next two decades, Joel's career will be all but eclipsed by that of his son, Nate. Thus Nate is astounded-and jealous-when his father is approached by a slick director who wants to capture his tragic early work on film. As the director and his sensual assistant bedevil father and son, the retributions rain down upon all sides.