A young journalist and aspiring author MICHAEL ROBB has landed a dream assignment: to interview the renowned but reclusive author EDWARD GRANVILLE. The famous writer and his devoted wife VIRGINIA have lived for many years in isolation at their hilltop retreat on the Pacific Coast known as Stonecliff. Not long after Michael arrives, strange things begin to happen. Granville's wife disappears, and Michael meets NINA, a beautiful but mysterious young woman who seems to be the author's mistress. Other characters suddenly appear and then vanish into thin air as if they are creations from the author's vivid imagination. Michael comes to realize that these hallucinations are in fact coming straight from the pages of Granville's work and that he is becoming a character in the author's next book. Robert Nathan weaves a mysterious and haunting story that echoes an Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece concerning a famous novelist's life and all the secrets that lie behind the gates of his beloved home--Stonecliff.
"This is a daring accomplishment, yet characteristic of the courage and imagination which always mark Nathan's work. If he is not the most neglected of our great writers, surely not enough readers have been initiated into the circle of his magic... This novel, as all enduring novels, may be read on every level from entertainment to prophecy. It will, I am certain, bring many new readers to this great storyteller, to find in his novels a world celebrating tenderness, love, mystery and the sorcery of the creative mind."
--Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times
About the Author:
Author of such revered books as PORTRAIT OF JENNIE, THE BISHOP’S WIFE, THE RIVER JOURNEY, and STONECLIFF, Robert Nathan was born in New York City in 1894 and was educated at private schools in the United States and Switzerland. While attending Harvard University where he was a classmate with E.E. Cummings, Nathan was an editor of the Harvard Monthly, in which his first stories and poems appeared. While at Cambridge, Nathan also found the time to become an accomplished cellist, a lightweight boxer, and Captain of the fencing team. After leaving college, Mr. Nathan devoted his time exclusively to writing until his passing in 1985. Early on, Nathan’s work strengthened his reputation with both the public and peers. F. Scott Fitzgerald once referred to Robert Nathan as his favorite writer. During this period, the legendary Louis B. Mayer contracted him to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. Nathan ultimately didn’t enjoy the experience, though the movie industry continually craved his work. Five of his novels have been made into films. The aforementioned “Portrait of Jennie†and “The Bishop’s Wife,†as well as “One More Spring,†“Wake Up and Dream†(from the novel “The Enchanted Voyageâ€) and “Color of Evening.†Robert Nathan was the author of over fifty volumes of novels, poetry, and plays, and from this body of distinguished work he acquired a reputation as a master of satiric fantasy unique in American Letters. In the twilight of his career he was known as “The Dean of Author’s,†since many prominent writers including Irving Stone and Irving Wallace sought out Nathan’s guidance. A member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters for fifty years, Mr. Nathan called both Cape Cod and California home. Happily, his last fifteen years were spent in the companionship of his wife, English born actress, Anna Lee.