Ten days in the hills - Jane Smiley

On the morning after the 2003 Academy Awards, Max-an Oscar-winning writer/director whose fame has waned-and his lover, Elena, are in bed, still groggy from last night's red-carpet festivities. They are talking about movies, talking about love, talking about the just-begun war in Iraq. But their house full of guests demands attention. Gathered downstairs are: Max's ex-wife "the legendary Zoe Cunningham," a dazzling half-Jamaican movie star; their strong-willed daughter, Isabel; Max's agent, Stoney, a too easy-going version of his now-departed agent father; Paul, Zoe's new lover, an enigmatic healer; and a coterie of others. Over the next ten days they share their stories of Hollywood past and present , their fears provoked by the Iraq war; they watch films in Max's luxury screening room; they gossip by the swimming pool and tussle in the many bedrooms, as the tension mounts and sparks fly.Inspired by Boccaccio's Decameron , Ten Days in the Hills is an unputdownable novel about love, war, sex, politics, storytelling and, of course, redemption, by one of the most talented American writers at work today.