First published 2004
Margaret sits at her computer, struggling with her novel. She needs a story, and watching her best friend Letty provides the perfect solution. Letty lives the kind of dramatic life that makes compelling fiction. Margaret begins encouraging Letty to make bolder choices, riskier decisions. She pushes her friend toward situations that will generate better material. As Letty's life becomes more turbulent, Margaret mines each crisis for her manuscript. She transforms her friend's real struggles into fictional scenes as quickly as Letty experiences them. The arrangement works perfectly until Margaret makes a devastating miscalculation. In her hunger for the perfect story, she destroys something she cannot replace. The novel explores the collision between friendship and ambition, revealing how the desire to create art can corrupt the relationships that inspire it.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: friends-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
535 pages · Paperback · Chivers