Benjamin Cheever - Works of Fiction

Works of Fiction

• The Plagiarist (Simon & Schuster Adult, 1992)

Synopsis—Arthur Prentice is the only child of author Icarus Prentice, a famous novelist. He's in a bad marriage and his son's unhappy. Arthur leaves his local job at a newspaper and joins the staff of The American Reader, a "reprint magazine" where the management tries to get Icarus to write for the magazine, but Iracus thinks the magazine is a joke.

• The Partisan (Simon & Schuster Adult, 1994)

Was picked as Editor's Choice of the New York Times Best Books in its year.

Synopsis—Nelson is a young film student at New York University. In his life are his 'aunt and uncle,' Jonas Collingwood, author of eighteenth-century spectaculary gloomy novels, and his sister Nar (Narcissus). Nelson and his family live a cloistered life in the suburbs where Nelson dreams of owning his own car, uncle Jonas writing his novels, his aunt burning dinners, and Nar charming men and dreaming of owning a horse.

• Famous After Death (Bloomsbury USA, 2000)

Synopsis—In 1984, Noel Hammersmith, a chubby thirty-something year old gets dumped by his girlfriend. His dream is to be tall, skinny, and famous. He wants to be famous to the point where he thinks he might have to kill someone.

• The Good Nanny (Bloomsbury USA, 2004)

Synopsis—Stuart Cross, an editor at a small publishing house and his wife Andie Wilde, a top film critic for the New York Post just bought a new house in the suburbs. They decide to Louise, a Nanny, also known as "Miss Washington" and "Sugar" to the children. Louise is a natural with the children. Nine-year-old Ginny and six-year-old Jane think of Louise as the ideal nanny, but Andie feels differently. Andie feels paranoid about Louise’s activities such as her enjoyment of reading Hilaire Belloc, being an accomplished painter and having a best friend who is a nice guy but has a prison history. While Andie feels displaced, Stuart suffers a professional blow and becomes annoyed when he learns about the Museum of Modern Art‘s interest in Louie's paintings.

• The First Dog (2009)

Synopsis—The story is about Adam and Eve's dog who is the first dog to be known to humankind. Tim Grajek is the illustrator.