Best known for The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The success of his first novel made him famous and let him marry the woman he loved, but he later descended into drinking and his wife had a mental breakdown.
Following the unsuccessful Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter. He died of a heart attack in 1940, at age 44, his final novel only half completed. Today marks the 75th anniversary of his death.
In novelist Stewart O' Nan’s latest novel, West of Sunset, he imagines F. Scott Fitzgerald's final years, which he spent in Hollywood. He is living in an apartment, in poor health, struggling with alcoholism, and is increasingly despondent over his declining literary reputation.
