West of Sunset, written by Stewart O'Nan,published by Penguin Books, 2015.

West of Sunset offers the reader a close up of F. Scott Fitzgerald, broke and down at the heels, as he struggles to make a comeback as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Ironically, Scott had already published This Side of Paradise, Tender is the Night, and The Great Gatsby. West of Sunset focuses on the years 1937-1940 when Scott gamely put his talent on the line in hopes of generating enough income to support his daughter, Scottie, about to enter Vassar, while caring for his wife, Zelda, who was confined to a psychiatric hospital in North Carolina.

It's a familiar story to fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald. What makes West of Sunset so uniquely appealing is that the author, Stewart O'Nan, artfully narrates the story with such clarity and intensity that the characters virtually come to life as they share their lines and scenes with one another. Much of that is accomplished by the spot on dialogue, making full use of what Scott characterized as "shades and rhythms."

The story of Scott's last years in Hollywood is intense and deeply conflicted. Living in Hollywood at the Garden of Allah, writing scripts for M-G-M, Scott develops a romantic relationship with Sheila Graham, a newspaper columnist. He was initially attracted to her because she looked a lot like Zelda. Scott and Sheila Graham were formally introduced at a Screen Writers Guild dinner in the Fiesta Room of the Ambassador Hotel on July 22, 1937. Scott also began to work on a new novel, The Last Tycoon. Scott's skills in Hollywood were recognized by some, dismissed by others. He made a $1,000 a week which was near the top of the pecking order. (William Faulkner worked at Warner Bros. for $300 per week.) Films Scott worked on included A Yank at Oxford, and Three Comrades.

But Scott has a huge problem with alcohol which made his attempts to straighten out his life an evolving tragedy. When Scott went off the wagon, the consequences were horrendous. It was only a question of time before it ended badly and it did on the night of December 21, 1940 at the home of Sheila Graham. Scott died of an occlusive coronary arteriosclerosis but the writer John O'Hara said Scott died of neglect. Scott was forty-four years of age at the time of his death. Zelda died in a fire at Highland Hospital in March of 1948. She was buried with Scott at Rockville Union Cemetery, later reinterred together at the Fitzgerald family plot at St. Mary's Church, Rockville, Maryland.