Stewart O'Nan is the author of fourteen novels, including The Odds, Emily, Alone and Last Night at the Lobster, as well as several works of nonfiction, including, with Stephen King, the bestselling Faithful. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where he lives with his family.
'O'Nan is an incredibly versatile and charming writer. This novel, which imagines F. Scott Fitzgerald's troubled time in Hollywood (with cameos by Dorothy Parker, Bogie, and Hemingway), takes up (like much of O'Nan's work) that essential conundrum of grace struggling with paucity. One brilliant American writer meditating on another - what's not to love?' -- George Saunders, author of Tenth of December. 'West of Sunset is a rich, sometimes heartbreaking journey through the disintegration of an American legend. O'Nan captures the fire and frailty of F. Scott Fitzgerald with an understated grace that would have made Fitzgerald himself stand up and applaud.' - Dennis Lehane. 'An achingly nuanced love story and one of the best biographical novels to come along in years. O'Nan's great achievement here is in so convincingly inhabiting the character of Scott Fitzgerald and of the people surrounding him during his descent into the clarifying depths of 1930s Hollywood.' - T.C. Boyle. 'Stewart O'Nan captures Fitzgerald's mood of spiritual reflection, without trying to imitate Fitzgerald's voice. This book is an inoculation against self-pity. It's not a mock Fitzgerald novel, but an original portrait of a writer struggling to keep his dignity while trying to make a living. It's one of the best books I've read in years and it deserves a cheering crowd.' - Michael Tolkin, author of The Player