Sweet Fury

Fates and Furies meets The Silent Patient when movie star Lila Crayne and her film director fiancé embark on a feminist adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night, prompting Lila to excavate her past in preparation for her leading role—but in doing so, she becomes entangled in a deadly game of revenge in which everyone, on screen and off, is playing a part.

Lila Crayne is America’s sweetheart: she’s generous and kind, gorgeous and magnetic, and she’s loved the whole world over. She and her boyfriend, visionary filmmaker Kurt Royall, have settled into a stunning apartment in the West Village, and are embarking on a modern feminist adaptation of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night.

To prepare for the leading role, Lila begins work with charming and accomplished therapist Jonah Gabriel to dig into the trauma of her past. Soon, Lila’s impeccably manicured life begins to unravel on the therapy couch—and Jonah is just the man to pick up the pieces. But everyone has a secret, and no one is quite who they seem; before long, careers, reputations, and lives are in danger of being irrevocably destroyed.

A twisty, thought-provoking novel told through the lens of the film industry, and in conversation with the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sweet Fury takes a hard look at America’s deep-rooted misogyny, and offers a fresh take on the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. A meta novel of construction and deconstruction about the narratives we tell ourselves—and what happens when we co-opt others into those stories—Sweet Fury examines the true meaning of justice, and the blurred lines between victim and perpetrator.