West of Sunset

The heart of the novel is his penetrating description of Fitzgerald's troubled self. * The Sunday Times *
Some of O'Nan's most suggestive passages conjure the feeling of freefall that can accompany uncontrollable change. * Guardian *
Mesmerising and haunting...The strings O'Nan pulls so deftly are really the mark of a consummate pro, along the lines of Fitzgerald himself. * Boston Globe *
[A] gorgeous new novel... O'Nan is a writer alert to the courage and beauty inherent in the stories of people who simply have to keep on keeping on... "The Love of the Last Tycoon," even though unfinished, is a pretty fine Hollywood novel. "West of Sunset" is a pretty fine Hollywood novel, too, but it's an even finer novel about a great writer's determination to keep trying to do his best work, to keep reaching for "the silver pepper of the stars," even at a time when he was universally dismissed as a has-been. * Washington Post *
O'Nan's adroitness with atmosphere and period detail makes Fitzgerald's dreams of creating worthy work, even with his best days behind him, absorbing and poignant. * The New Yorker *
O'Nan is serious in his attempt to dig deep into Fitzgerald and his genius. And he does it rather affectingly... Scott's pain is palpable but O'Nan's prose glitters in response. * The Big Issue *
O'Nan... skilfully pulls us into Fitzgerald's gilded and yet familiar world. He brings the Hollywood legends to life. By the end, they feel like friends. * Chicago Tribune *
With West of Sunset, one brilliant American novelist has taken on another... big-hearted and fascinating. * Seattle Times *
The beautifully realised Zelda sections strike a minor, elegiac chord...they let us imagine what it might have been like inside Fitzgerald's brilliant, tortured mind. * New York Times *
A stunning account of F. Scott Fitzgerald's final years... With tremendous artistry, O'Nan shows in West of Sunset how one of the finest and most tragic American writers discovered not only a late creative lease on life but also a new love. * The Australian *
A wonderfully intimate and gently absorbing book. It inhabits an era and a fine mind with great care, folding in details of Fitzgerald's life with subtle unhurried sympathy. * Wales on Sunday *
O'Nan has written a wonderfully intimate and gently absorbing book. * Gloucestershire Echo *
[He] brings depth and tenderness to the awkward love affair between Fitzgerald and the gossip columnist Sheilah Graham. * Mail on Sunday *
Atmospheric West of Sunset re-imagines the last three troubled years of Fitzgerald's life... Stunning. * The Herald *
The last three years of American writer F Scott Fitzgerald's life, often obscured by the legend of his earlier Jazz Age glamour, are the focus of Stewart O'Nan's heartfelt new novel. * Lincolnshire Echo *
West of Sunset focuses on these last, darkly difficult years, folding in details of Fitzgerald's life with subtle, unhurried sympathy. The result is a fine portrait of grace under pressure and moral courage. * Burnley Express *