The big zoo

A novel about love for women, literature and laughter. Guy Ableman is a novelist in love with his wife, Vanessa, a stunning, contradictory, and frighteningly stressed redhead. The problem is that he's no less fascinated by his seductive mother-in-law, Poppy. These two constitute a potent presence that destroys Guy's peace of mind, making him imagine stories while simultaneously depriving him of the time to write them. Not that anyone reads his books. Or anything else. Reading, Guy fears, is over. His editor, aware of this, committed suicide. His agent has disappeared. Vanessa, on the other hand, is writing her own novel. Guy doesn't expect her to finish, but he panics when he thinks he might be wrong. Fiction may be dead, but desire is not. From this desire, he believes he can write a great book.