Patrick Hamlin

Patrick Hamlin is the main character of the novel. He is a middle-aged man, with a wife, Alison, and a nine-year-old daughter, Nora. Patrick works as a novelist. Though he has published three books and won several awards for his writing, Patrick is largely unsatisfied with his life and occupation. He is thrilled, therefore, when he discovers that Hollywood producers want to adapt his novel Elison Lane for the screen. Instead of staying home on the East Coast to be with his family, Patrick decides to fly out to California to work on the production.

Not long after arriving in Hollywood, Patrick realizes how alone he feels. He misses Alison and Nora. He wishes he had someone in town who knew him. He feels even more frustrated when he discovers that the screenwriters have bastardized his story, rendering it almost unrecognizable in the script. Worse yet, Patrick...