Lendle

Short description: Raised by slum-dwelling alcoholics, an autistic teen struggles to complete college and woo a handicapped girl—with bittersweet results.

Longer description: Eye of a Fly is a novel of tragedy and redemption with a cast of characters that includes:

* Ernest Wentworth, a profoundly introverted boy who inhabits a world of mathematics and music.

* Tiffany, his innocent younger sister whose friends practice voodoo.

* Warren, Ernest’s talented but learning-disabled younger brother whose suicide triggers the novel’s finale.

* Harry, Ernest’s father. A former Hollywood screen writer, he has always dreamed of drinking hard, seeing the world, and writing like Hemingway—but only succeeded at the first.

* Annie, a handicapped but radiant girl who draws Ernest out of his shell.