Aspiring writer Maurice Swift, whose desire for fame exceeds his talent, uses a chance meeting with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann in a West Berlin hotel in 1988 to obtain secrets about Ackermann's wartime activities, which becomes material for his first novel. Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan...

Awakening in a hospital with a scar on his head and no memory of being found holding a knife over his ex-fiancee's murdered body, crime novelist Drew Danner struggles to reconstruct clues to determine his own guilt or innocence.

An epic story of a family, dysfunctional at best, unable to cope with tragedy -- or with each other. This profoundly absorbing story expresses the depths of misery and the healing power of love.